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Banting’s performance in winning its first senior boys’ basketball championship in 34 years wasn’t so much a clinic Tuesday night as it was a vivisection.
Operating with a methodical ruthlessness, the Broncos took apart a very good Catholic Central team, beating the Crusaders 74-44 in the TVRAA AAA final at Oakridge.
Leading the way was Greg Morrow, who included a couple of dunks and a pair of threes among his game-high 26 points. And he spent a great deal of the second half on the bench after picking up his fourth foul early in the third quarter.
“For a lot of us, this is our last year, one last chance to get to WOSSAA and hopefully OFSAA,” Morrow said. “I’ve never even been to WOSSAA before.”
He’ll do so Friday in Stratford, where the Broncos should be favourites to get to the OFSAA tournament March 7-9 in Niagara Falls.
“Our team’s really into it,” he said. “We know we can do something great here.”
Morrow was like a man among boys in this game, but he also showed his impetuous side by taking some unnecessary fouls.
“It was really frustrating,” he said of sitting, “but at the same time I know I have to be more disciplined out there.”
The rest of the Broncos rose to the occasion with Morrow on the bench. Guard Jordan Field added 19 points, Will Gonser had a couple of key threes in the second half and Jason Hawke and Stefan Morrow also chipped in with solid efforts.
“Every person on this team is just as important,” Greg Morrow said. “They all contribute. Even the bench, they kept us energized in this game and they’ve worked us hard in practice all year so we could be ready for this game.”
It was an emotional head coach Umar Chaudhry who cut the final strand on the net at one end in the postgame celebration.
“I only slept four hours last night. I was nervous, the guys were nervous, but we had a game plan and the boys executed it to perfection. I couldn’t be prouder. I’ve coached a lot of these guys since they were in Grade 9 and to see them grow from young boys to young men has been really special.
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“There’s no doubt Greg’s our inspirational leader and he has progressed from being a very good basketball player to a great basketball player, one of the best to ever come out of Banting. But this team is very balanced and they looked at adversity tonight with Greg on the bench and they responded.”
Chaudhry is a former Bronco himself, so the title took on a little more meaning.
“This is such a great moment for the school,” he said. “We’ve had good teams before, but we’ve never been able to take it to this level. This team is going to be remembered.”
The Broncos were able to get open looks on almost every possession and they made a great deal of them. The Crusaders, who got 18 points from George Johnson and 13 from Kevin Griffiths, saw a lot of shots bounce the wrong way.
Crusaders head coach Charles Fordjour said his team was simply outplayed.
“They’re a very good basketball team. What can you do?” he said. “Our shots weren’t falling, but that was more a testament to their defence. They were solid all year, a solid man-to-man, and they proved they were the best team in our (classification).
“Our half-court execution wasn’t there and that was because they did a good job of putting pressure on our ball-handlers. But this was the first time we’ve been in a final since 1995 and we’ll definitely be back.
“This is just the beginning.”
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