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Kevin Nagel, Oakville Beaver Sports Editor, sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports U 1 "Connected to your Community" CL 559 SPEERS RD., #UNIT 3 www.haltontransmission.com 905-842-0725 CD O' C o Aquinas claims Halton basketball title in a thriller Bishop Reding in the quarter-finals. While both teams are certainly Oakville Beaver staff skilled offensively -- Aquinas scored 92 points in its sem ifinal w in over They were the best two defensive teams in Halton, but if you think you Blakelock and both averaged more need two teams shooting the lights than 60 points per gam e -- they out to generate excitement, Wednes ranked ju st fifth (Trinity) and eighth day's Halton final proved otherwise. (Aquinas) in the league. "That was the m ost intense gam e W hat set them apart was their de of my life," N oah Worth said after the fensive play, where, led by Trinity, they St. Thom as Aquinas Raiders w on their were first and second in Halton. first Tier 1 senior boys' basketball title Though Aquinas focused m uch of since 2006 with a 47-40 win over the its attention on the Titans' Elijah LosHoly Trinity Titans. tracco, the Trinity guard alm ost willed Even the final score doesn't do the his team to victory with 23 points and gam e justice. For the first 29-and-a10 rebounds. But the Raiders never let half m inutes, the teams were never Trinity establish any m omentum. The separated by m ore than four points. Titans' longest run o f the gam e was Only once in the entire first half did four points. a team even m anage to score consecu "We knew it w as going to be tough tive points. And that only cam e about but the boys battled," Worth said. as the result of an Aquinas technical "Every loose ball, they were on the ground going after it." foul. Conor Murphy's putback with 2:28 "We expected that type of battle, to play put Aquinas up 43-38, the larg great D," said Trinity coach Jo e Poest lead enjoyed by either team to that lizzi. "In the end we got som e big point. ,key rebounds, som e putbacks, som e "We talked at the half when it was a steals. We were able to execute and one-point gam e and we said, `A couple shut them dow n when it m attered." of plays are going to decide it,'" said Aquinas will now host the Golden Trinity coach Andrew Saulez. "In a Conor Murphy o f the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders looks for a route to the basket around Holy H orseshoe Athletic Conference final gam e like that, a six-point lead m ight Trinity's Kristian Milford in Wednesday's Halton senior boys' Tier 1 basketball final. Murphy had M onday against the Hamilton Catho as well be 15." 11 points and eight rebounds in the Raiders' 4 7 -4 0 victory. lic champion. If M urphy's bucket didn't end it, ReUntil then, Aquinas can savour its | photo by Rizierio Vertolli - Oakville Beaver niel Jam ison 's with ju st over a minute Halton title. "W hen we pulled ahead at the end, it w as the to play, stretching the lead to seven, certainly did. "It was a crazy game. Intense, crazy, the craziest coolest feeling," said Worth, who had nine points "We played the best gam e we have all year," said gam e I've ever played in," said Tyler Sagl. "We did and eight rebounds. "In Grade 10 we faced Holy Murphy, who had 11 points and eight boards. "We everything we needed to. We w orked so hard in Trinity and they beat us. So to win this in m y last w orked hard every play, defended well and came the off-season and things ju st started falling into year, it's ju st unbelievable." up with som e big defensive rebounds." place for u s." Worth didn't have to go back three years to be Jam ison led the Raiders with 14 points and also "I'm so incredibly proud of this group," said rem inded o f a loss against Trinity. It was ju st two chipped in with six rebounds. His three-pointer Polizzi. "From the first practice we knew it was a weeks ago that the Titans beat Aquinas 55-48 in ju st before the half got Aquinas within one a 20 special group, not ju s t because of their talent but the final gam e of the regular season to lock up 19. The Raiders then scored the first four points of because of the type of guys they are. I really think second place. That had the teams on course for a second half and the Titans w ould hold the lead for our success is because they are such a tight-knit date in the sem ifinals until Loyola upset first-place ju st 35 seconds the rest of the way. group. It feels like a family." By Herb Garbutt Tigers tame Jaguars in Tier 2 Jr. final By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff £ = > o ro ro O > m C D The T.A. Blakelock Ti gers spent m uch of the season being the hunted. Playing in Tier 1, the Ti gers took their lumps, go ing 1-10. But with the Tier 1 teams that didn't qualify for the playoffs dropping down to Tier 2 for the post-season, the Tigers got a new lease on life. Blakelock installed a zone defence, switching from the m an-to-man it had been using, and the new system and a new attitude paid immediate dividends. "Our assistant coach Paul (Gavin) kept say ing to them, `W ho's the hound? W ho wants it?'" said Blakelock coach Adam Bonin. "They kept on attacking the ball de fensively." Blakelock went 3-0 in the playoffs, capped by a 37-31 win over the Christ the King Jaguars in W ednesday's ju n ior tier 2 AAA final at Sheridan College. The lead hound was Liam McKay, who in ad dition to leading the team with 11 points also pulled down 14 rebounds and had three blocks, typify- m c /) CL CD X > q o X b O 3 Vachon Insurance Group V a c h o n In s u ra n c e G ro u p 200-5468 Dundas St. W, Toronto, ON 1-800-766-8662 vachoninsce.com A s in d e p e n d e n t in s u r a n c e b ro k e rs , w e h a v e fr e e d o m o f c h o ic e . S o s h o u ld y o u . Working for Individuals and Small Businesses Knowledge Strategy We'll present you with more options designed to better match your protection and budget needs. D o n 't s e ttle fo r o n e q u o te fro m y o u r in s u r a n c e a g e n t. L e t u s h e lp y o u g e t y o u r m o n e y 's w o r th . mm S ^L L P See New on p. 16 L A W Y E R Oakville rates have been discounted. 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