ROPSSAA Teams Make History On Day 2 Of 2014 Boys AAAA Basketball Championships
March 7, 2014 by admin
Filed under Provincial and Territorial News
MISSISSAUGA – Prior to the second day of competition, no team representing the Region of Peel Secondary Schools Athletic Association had ever made it to the final four of the AAAA OFSAA Basketball Championship. That changed yesterday evening when not one but two teams from Brampton qualified for the final four: St. Marguerite D’Youville and Notre Dame.
In fact, one has to search back to before the existence of ROPSSAA to find the last Peel region team to make it to the final four of AAAA OFSAA. It was 1996 when Morning Star (Malton) qualified for the semifinals before bowing out 51-50 to Runnymede Collegiate. Morning Star were lead by 6-foot-11 former Northwestern center Aron Molnar, and point guard Mike George, the current NBA agent of rising Canadian basketball star Anthony Bennett, if that helps put it into perspective how long ago this was.
Qualifying for the final four did not come without a hard fought struggle for both of the Brampton teams on day two. With just 2.5 seconds left on the clock and Vaughan trailing D’Youville by three, Vaughan forward Kalif Young called a 6th timeout, resulting in an excessive timeout technical foul. D’Youville guard and player of the game Christien Gould made both foul shots, and the game ended in a 5 point Panther victory. D’Youville will face number two seed Father Henry Carr (Toronto), who themselves withstood the fantastic three point shooting and resilient defence of Cardinal Newman (Hamilton) to win 46-39.
Notre Dame survived a late 9 point St. Michael’s charge and knocked off the defending champions and number one seed by a score of 48-44. In their semifinal on Wednesday, Notre Dame will face Oakwood Collegiate (Toronto) who defeated city rival Eastern Commerce decisively 63-43 in their quarterfinal matchup.
Day three promises to be a thrilling conclusion to the championship with both the semifinals and finals being played at the Humber College site. The championship schedule, along with all other essential information, including team rosters, can be found at http://www.ofsaa.on.ca/boys-aaaa-basketball.
For further information please contact the championship convener or the media liaison listed below.
Contact:
Jason Cormier
Convener
St. Francis Xavier SS
905-507-6666 (T)
905-568-1026 (F)
kenneth.dvorsky@dpcdsb.org
