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Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Perennial basketball powers hoping youth will be served by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor Sports I 29 | Friday, December 13, 2013 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com "Connected to your Community" In top photo, Holy Trinity Titans player Jamal Fisher (in white) leaves Corpus Christi defenders in his wake as he makes a layup Tuesday in Halton high school senior boys' basketball play. In bottom photo, Loyola's Darryl Jean is guarded by Corpus Christi's Isaac Manunga during a recent contest at Loyola. | top photo by Eric Riehl, bottom photo by Chantal Ayotte -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog Halton high school senior boys' basketball champions (since 2007) Level Winner 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 AAAA Div. 1 AAA/AAAA Div. 1 Div. 1 Div. 1 Div. 1 Holy Trinity Holy Trinity Loyola Loyola Loyola Holy Trinity Holy Trinity Opponent Assumption Nelson Nelson Nelson Holy Trinity Notre Dame Loyola Score 69-53 53-37 69-59 48-43 (OT) 60-36 65-52 65-50 n basketball, as in many other sports, coaches tend to protect their timeouts like gold. So it was odd to see Holy Trinity senior boys' coach Andrew Saulez burn one 20 seconds into the second half of the Titans' home game Tuesday against the Corpus Christi Longhorns. Trinity led 27-25 at the time and had just had a lengthy intermission to discuss any strategic adjustments. "The wrong guys had gone on the court," Saulez explained later. "I wanted to make sure we had a strong start to the second half." Mental mistakes like that have been few and far between recently at both Trinity and Loyola. The two high schools may be separated by just four kilometres in north Oakville, but they have managed to dominate 967-square-kilometre Halton Region for the better part of a decade. They have combined to win the last seven regional championships, with an average margin of victory of 14.1 points in the nals. Twice in the past three years, the Titans and Hawks have collided in the title match at Sheridan College. Both schools have also excelled outside of Halton. Loyola won Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations triple-A silver in 2010, then earned quad-A silver in 2011 (when the Hawks fell to Vaughan and star guard Andrew Wiggins, now at the University of Kansas and projected by many as the rst overall pick in next year's NBA draft). The Titans, two-time defending Halton champions, reached the bronze-medal game of last year's provincial quad-A tournament. The Catholic rivals' monopoly of the senior boys' crown appears to be in serious jeopardy this year, however. The Titans and Hawks both carried 3-1 records into yesterday's action, but each team's lone loss came by double digits against Burlington's Nelson Lords. "We're very young," said Loyola coach Gary Laurin, whose team's biggest offseason departure was national teamer Jake Babic, now at a Pittsburgh-area prep school. "With such a young team, you don't know what you're going to get." Inexperience is something Trinity also has to overcome this season. The Titans featured ve rst-year starters in Tuesday's 59-57 win over Corpus Christi, which might explain the lineup confusion to start the second half. Nick Ernest is the only returnee from last year's starting ve, but he missed Tuesday's contest due to illness. Lucas Orlita, Jamal Fisher and Evan O'Dell are Trinity's other players with signi cant senior experience. Ignas Brazdeikas, a Grade 9 student, led the Titans Tuesday with 20 points. Fisher scored 11 and Shamiel Stevenson, another rst-year senior, contributed eight. Saulez said coaching young players can lead to some frustration at times, but it's also enjoyable. "Starting over is fun as a coach. You de nitely have more headaches than last year, but it's also nice to have a different experience," Saulez said. "As much as it can be frustrating, when you start seeing things click, it's pretty nice. And when you see them start to compete harder and work harder, that's rewarding, too." And while youth might be Trinity and Loyola's biggest detriment now, it could also be the teams' greatest asset later in the season. The argument could be made that the Titans and Hawks have more potential for improvement than an older Nelson squad that features several fth-year students, particularly in a season that spans four months. "Every time we step on the oor, we're getting better," said Laurin, whose team is anchored by point guard Sean Stewart, inside presence Darryl Jean and two-way threat Christian Critelli. "The season's so long, and there's so many ups and downs." "Any time you're young, there is a higher ceiling," added Saulez. "It's a question of whether or not you can get to that ceiling. "If we're willing to work hard, it can be both (a building year and a winning year). We have enough older guys that if we have a full lineup, I think we can challenge. A few more months, and hopefully we can do enough to contend with Nelson." -- Jon Kuiperij can be followed on Twitter @Beaversports