One of the youngest members of the Centennial Spartans had to show nerves of steel Satrday night in the District 10 senior boys final at the University of Guelph.
Jackson Wallace sank a pair of clutch free throws to restore Centennial’s lead in the final quarter of their 72-61 victory over the Ross Royals.
With the Ross supporters stamping their feet on the stands – Centennial supporters did the same when Ross players took foul shots – Grade 11 student Wallace hit those two free throws in the opening minute of the fourth quarter to put Centennial ahead for good.
“I just had to keep my cool,” he said after post-game photos were taken. “I've got my friends and family on the sidelines. I just had to stay calm, focus in and hit the shots. It's all part of the fun.”
“He's worked so hard,” Centennial coach Rob Conroy said of Wallace. “It's not just even as an athlete, he's such a fine young man. He's got a lot of character and strength. He's worked hard on his game and put on some weight and it's all paid off.”
The atmosphere was electric throughout the game and that just added to the intensity. And the players on both sides fed off of it.
“I love it,” Wallace said. “I just channel it in and nail the shots. That's about it.”
By the end of the league’s regular season the 6-foot-5 Wallace was consistently one of the top scorers for the Spartans, but he’s quick to give credit to his teammates.
“For me, it was a really good season, but as a team, that's what I just focused on,” he said. “We're a family. We all have to rely on each other. Some days it's our day and other days we have to rely on our teammates. As long as we act as one, we're all good.”
The win by Centennial in the senior game made it a split for the Spartans and Royals in the Centennial-Ross championship twinbill as the Royals won the preceding junior tilt 73-56.
The victories also meant that the reigning champions kept their titles, both winning for the second consecutive year. Also for both champions, their victories extended winning streaks. Centennial’s seniors completed an unbeaten D10 season while the Ross juniors made it 29 wins in a row since an early-season three-point loss to the Orangeville Bears in league play.
Thanks to a couple of baskets by Jackson Davidson on throw-in turnovers, Centennial led the senior final 27-15 at the end of the first quarter. They were up 40-32 at halftime before the Royals closed to 52-50 by the end of the third quarter.
Wallace led Centennial with a game-high 23 points while Cameron Powell had 20, Kai Clarke 15 and Davidson nine.
Cole Miller collected 21 for Ross while Ryan Kielar had 11, Malcolm Bair eight and Gatlang Puot seven.
Centennial finished the regular season in first place at 14-0 while Ross was second at 11-3.
The Spartans move on to next week’s CWOSSA AAA tournament. It’s slated for Friday and Saturday at Cameron Heights in Kitchener.
In the D10 junior final, Ross hit early to lead 23-12 at the end of the first quarter before Centennial chipped away at the gap, narrowing it to eight points (38-30) at halftime and six (56-50) at the end of the third quarter.
“We came out hard and I think we got a little overconfident and forgot that Centennial can shoot the ball,” Ross coach Charlie Douglas said.
“They got back to within four in that second half and we had to call a timeout. We got recollected, focused on what we do best and we work best as a team. When we've got individual mode, it doesn't help us out, but when we work as a team we just move the ball around so well and our Bigs were huge getting us some offence and rebounds at key times.”
Royals Robert Vosper and Daniel Wang also contolled the offence, setting up most of the scoring attacks by the eventual winners.
“Guys like Robert Vosper and Daniel Wang make every coach look pretty good,” Douglas said.
Vosper led all scorers with 17 points while Wang had 15 and Landon Hart added 10. Eric Dewar collected seven and Aiden Miller and Lorik Sadiku each had six.
Will Glaspell and Jaylen Phillip each had 14 for Centennial and they were followed by Fraaz Kamaldeen with 12 and Maddux Martin with 10.
Ross had finished atop the D10 junior standings at 13-1 while Centennial was third at 11-3. The Spartans had defeated second-place Orangeville (12-2) in the semifinals.
The Royals are to complete their season at next week’s CWOSSA AAA junior tournament. It’s scheduled to go Friday at Waterloo CI and Saturday at Kitchener’s Cameron Heights CI.
If the CWOSSA AAA schedules aren’t changed, the coaches of the D10 champions are likely to have to get substitute coaches for Friday as they’re scheduled to be on strike that day as part of the teachers’ rotating strikes. They’ll be back on Saturday.
The schedule for the CWOSSA AA championships in Guelph had to be changed as the gyms at Lourdes and St. James would not be avilable Friday. Those tournaments are now scheduled for Thursday and Saturday.
The Lourdes Crusaders are the D10 representatives in both senior and junior. The senior tournament is to start at Lourdes on Thursday and finish at St. James on Saturday. Junior tournament games are to be held at St. James both days.
