Lucas Punkari
Advance to
all-Ontarios
The Muskie senior boys’ basketball team is headed to the all-Ontarios for the first time since 2001.
The black-and-gold captured the NWOSSAA crown here Saturday morning after sweeping the Thunder Bay champion Winston Churchill Trojans in the best-of-three showdown.
“Our goal at the start of the year was to win NorWOSSA and just go from there, and we couldn’t ask for a better season,” said Muskie head coach Bryce Coyle.
“I don’t really know what to say right now, this is awesome,” he added.
“This feels great because we finally did it after three years of hard, close battles,” Gavin Moorhouse enthused.
“We amped up our game this weekend and did what we had to do out there, and as a result we played some great games as a team.”
The Muskies lost two close NWOSSAA finals in the previous two seasons—falling on home court against the Trojans in 2010 and then losing to the Superior Gryphons in Thunder Bay last February.
The black-and-gold took a 10-point lead into the fourth quarter of the opening game Friday afternoon, which proved to be enough of a cushion en route to a 59-53 victory.
Will Anderson led the way with a 21-point afternoon, with Tim Metke adding 14 points to the cause.
Game 2 on Saturday morning was a much tighter affair until the fourth quarter, when the hosts outscored their opponents 16-7 on their way to a 57-46 triumph and the gold medal.
Caleb McIntosh paced Fort High with 16 points in that game, with Anderson adding 13.
The OFSAA ‘AA’ boys’ basketball championship will take place March 5-7 in St. Catharines.
The schedule and seeding for the Muskies in the double-elimination tournament will be announced in the coming days.
