Titan midgets win provincial gold

The Sault Titans Major Midgets boys basketball club captured the gold medal at the provincial championships in Ottawa this past weekend.

The Titans finished second in their pool with a 2-1 record before moving onto the elimination bracket.

In game 1 of pool play, the Titans defeated the #13th ranked Goulbern Hornets 54-39. Matt Bertolissi scored 19 points and Nick Whitmill added 14 in the victory.

The second game of pool play saw the Titans drop a close 38-32 game to the #12 ranked Hamilton Wildcats. Danny MacDonald led the Titans with 16 points and Conner Maloney added 8.

In the final game of pool play, the Titans secured a spot in the final eight by defeating the #5 seed KW Vipers from Kitchener/Waterloo 68-51. Matt Bertolissi exploded for 28 points. Frasier Speakman, and Conner Maloney both added 8 points in the victory.

In the quaterfinals, the Titans faced the #1 seed Lakeshore Lynx. Down as many as 10 points in the second half, the Sault rallied behind the outstanding perimeter defence of Frasier Speakman to come from behind and take the game by a score of 49-46. Danny MacDonald led the way with 16 points and Nick Whitmill added 14 for the winners.

In the semi-finals, the Titans again faced the #12 ranked Hamilton Wildcats who they had dropped a game to in pool play. The Titans took a slight edge going into the half leading 24-18 when in the 3rd quater they outscored the Wildcats 24-8.

The Titans were able to hold off a late Wildcats 4th quarter run and advance to the finals by a score of 60-42. Matt Bertolissi turned in another great performance with 25 points including 8-for-8 from the free throw line in the 4th quarter. Danny MacDonald added 17 points, which included four 3 point shots.

In the finals, the Titans again found themselves down at the half to the #15 ranked York South Silver Knights. Trailing 28-20 at the half, the Titans rallied behind the hot shooting of Danny MacDonald and the clutch shooting of Geoff Clarke to once again come from behind the win the gold medal by a score of 60-48. Danny MacDonald and Matt Bertolissi once again carried the scoring load with 19 and 17 points, respectively.

At the conclusion of the tournament, Matt Bertolissi was named the Camp Olympia tournament MVP.

(Submitted by Thomas Cory)