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24 Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR:JONKUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2012 All-Catholic qualifier reinforces parity in Halton hoops By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLEBEAVERSTAFF If this week's preview is anything like the main attraction, local high school basketball fans are in for a treat. But while the Fred Scione Memorial Catholic Cup Qualifier provided plenty of thrills, the harsh reality is when they start handing out invitations to the OFSAA party in a month's time, there just won't be enough to go around. For now, the Holy Trinity Titans, the Loyola Hawks and Notre Dame Fightin' Irish can continue to wage entertaining battles, as they did this week at the qualifying tournament for the Ontario all-Catholic basketball tournament. Notre Dame remarkably overcame a 23-0 third-quarter run by Holy Trinity in Wednesday's final, rallying for a 62-57 victory in the championship game. That came just a day after the Irish edged Loyola 66-64 in the semifinals. Both Oakville teams were done in by Notre Dame star and tournament MVP Grant Mullins. He scored 42 points against the Hawks Tuesday, including the decisive three foul shots with less than a second to play. That capped a wild finish that saw the lead change hands three times in the final 38 seconds. A day later, Mullins scored 18 points in the first quarter alone as he helped the Irish build a 43-27 lead against the Titans. He would finish with 40 after leading a late charge that helped Notre Dame overcome a seven-point deficit in the final five minutes. Trinity, the tournament's top seed, looked all but done, headed for a lopsided defeat before discovering its scoring touch and running off 23 straight points. STEVEN DER-GARABEDIAN / SPECIAL TO THE OAKVILLE BEAVER TOUGH ASSIGNMENT: Notre Dame guard Grant Mullins (in white) tries to drive past Holy Trinity Titans defender Shakeel Walker during Wednesday's championship game of the Fred Scione Memorial Catholic Cup Qualifier in Burlington. Mullins scored 40 points, leading the Irish to a 62-57 win over the Titans. Holy Trinity may lack Notre Dame's star power but the Titans collectively showed they stack up pretty well. During the third quarter, they showed just how dominant they can be. Trevon McNeil, held to just three points in the opening half, scored 10 during Trinity's run and Regis Ivaniukus hit two of the Titans' four three-pointers in the quarter. "We just committed to the things we do well," Holy Trinity coach Andrew Saulez said. "We didn't do a great job of what we had to do early on." Rebounding was the most noticeable of those things. Led by Shakeel Walker, who had a game-high nine boards, Trinity seemed to pull down every rebound. "You can't afford to give a good team like that second and third opportunities," Mullins said. After struggling offensively in the first half, the Titans seemed to lead a charmed life in the third quarter, hitting five of their eight three-pointers in a seven-minute stretch. Four players -- McNeil, Ivaniukus, Nolan Mackenzie and Paul Bray -- each had a pair from beyond the arc in the game. Bray (10 points) and tournament all-stars McNeil (17) and Mackenzie (11) all finished in double figures. "They came out in the second half and hit every shot. There were threes everywhere," said Mullins, who welcomes the level of competition their league provides. "It helps playing against good players. All the teams like this, they make us better. They push us to work even harder." Saulez agrees. "I've been saying all along, I'm glad to have the competition. We have three teams, probably five teams, that I can see winning Halton." Obviously, only one team can do that. But as for the all-Ontario Catholic tournament, all three teams are still in the running. Halton had already earned a second berth, having produced last year's champion, Loyola. But when the defending champs-- coming off a weekend victory at the Silver See Loyola, page 25 Silver Stick win puts minor peewees on 'top of mountain' By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR Even the most casual golf fan would understand Oakville minor peewee AA Rangers coach Craig Gaskin's analogy about how significant his team's latest tournament victory is. "If winning the Richard Bell would be like a Canadian golfer winning the Canadian Open, then our team just won The Masters," Gaskin said, referring to the International Silver Stick championship his squad earned last weekend in Newmarket. Oakville won all five of its games at the tournament, which featured eight regional champions from across North America. The Rangers opened with an 8-3 win over the Newmarket Redmen (the same team Oakville beat 4-1 in the final of the Richard Bell tournament last month), then doubled up the Plymouth Stingrays and Soo Jr. Greyhounds by 4-2 scores to finish preliminary-round play with a 3-0 mark. In the semis, Oakville blanked the Toledo Cherokee 3-0. The Rangers then shut out the London Jr. Knights in the final, again by a 3-0 margin. "This is the top of the mountain, in terms of tournaments," Gaskin said. "The regionals draw all the best teams and you get a best-of-the-best structure. It's extremely difficult to win. "The (Ontario Minor Hockey Association playdowns) prob- ably filter out the truly best team... where you have to (beat) one team over a series," he added. "Here, you have to play a series of games against really, really hard teams. They're both difficult, but in different ways." Gaskin was particularly pleased with the back-to-back shutouts his squad posted in the semifinals and championship game. Toledo is the top-ranked minor peewee AA team in the United States, while London is ranked third in Ontario. "It wasn't heroic efforts by anyone in particular," he noted. "It was really a full team." Members of the Rangers are David Gunner, Holden Doggett, Lukas Georgas, Aidan Child, Patrick Maloney, Ben Dunford, Paul Costin, Benji Webster, Philip Mazzuca, Matthew Cvitak, Evan McIntyre, Sam Gaskin, Davis Boulding, Christopher Elliott, Jake Howden, Alex Pain and Sam Roy.