Junior Boys Basketball
Unbeaten Knights improve record to 3-0 against St. Matt Tigers
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

Members of the St. Peter Knights and the St. Matthew Tigers fight for a rebound during their junior boys basketball tilt on Thursday. Fred Sherwin/Photo

The St. Peter Knights junior boys basketball team continued their domination over the St. Matthew Tigers on Thursday, downing them for a third straight time in less than a month and doing so with relative ease.

The 5-0 Knights jumped out to a 19-6 first quarter lead against the Tigers and kept the pedal to the medal for the next two quarters before finally taking the foot off the gas in the fourth. When the dust had finally cleared, the Knights walked off the court with a 59-34 win.

The Tigers have only lost three games so far this season, but all three losses have been against the Knights who beat them by 15 points in final of the Bill Wren Tournament on Nov. 30, and eight points in the final of the St. Patrck's Tournament on Dec. 6. The Tigers actually had a one point half-time lead against the Knights in the latter game, but they couldn't hold on for the win.

One would have thought the Tigers would have something to prove in the game on Thursday, especially considering that three of their starters are teammates with four of the St. Pete's players on the Gloucester Wolverines, but they came out totally flat and were completely lacking in intensity. The Knights, meanwhile, played like a team on a mission from the opening tip-off, which is why they were able to build up commanding lead so quickly.

Daniel Nwosu and Jeremy Azangi paced the Knights in the first quarter with eight and seven points respectively, while Brendan Farquarson and Sean Decloux added a basket each.

The Knights extended their lead to 20 points by the end of the second quarter, thanks mainly to their superior rebounding abilities. By the end of the third quarter the lead was 26.

Nwosu led all scorers with 21 points, Azangi ended up with 19 and Nick Zablocki had eight points including a pair of three-pointers. Mack Wakefield was the top scorer for the Tigers with nine points.

After the game, Tigers head coach Chris Wakefield was at a loss of words in trying to explain his team's lack of intensity in such a big game against their number one rival.

"I don't know what to say, except that hopefully we can learn from this. I'm just glad that we play them as many times as we do, because we're only going to learn how to beat them by playing them," said Wakefield.

The two teams will likely play each other one more time before the playoffs. Based on their records in the preliminary round of the regular season, which came to an end on Thursday, they will both be playing Tier 1 and they will both be placed in the East Division along with Louis Riel, Lester B. Pearson, Colonel By and either Gisele Lalonde or Sir Wilfrid Laurier.

On paper, the only team that may stand between the Knights and a trip to the city championship are the Louis-Riel Rebelles who went 5-0 during the preliminary round. They have yet to play each other this season, but the Rebelles were bounced by the Tigers in the semi-final of the Bill Wren Tournament.

After the game Nwosu was asked if he thought the Knights had gotten into the Tigers' heads.

"I'd say so, maybe a little bit, but basketball is the type of game that if you beat the same team three times in a row, you're eventually going to lose we just have to stay on our toes and make sure that doesn't happen," said Nwosu.

Before resuming their regular season schedule in January, the Knights will be heading down to Toronto on Jan. 8 to play a high level tournament against some of the best teams in the GTA, including Pickering who have three U15 provincial team members in their starting lineup and are ranked third or fouth in the region.

(Posted 8 p.m., Dec. 17)

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