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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, February 24, 2012 · 28 NOWHERE TO GO: Nick D'Attoma of the T.A. Blakelock Tigers (with ball) is surrounded by Lester B. Pearson defenders Wednesday at Sheridan College. Blakelock lost the Halton senior boys' Tier 2 basketball final, 61-41 to the Patriots. ERIC RIEHL / OAKVILLE BEAVER Tigers tamed by determined Pats and that set the tone. "One of our priorities was getting to the rim early, getting free throws, getting fouls on some of their The Lester B. Pearson senior boys basketball team guys and getting them to back off a little bit and I thought we really did that well." ended last season without a Tier 2 championship. Patriots captain Drew McNeice credited the strong For Sean Bozuk and the rest of his Patriots teammates, ending this year without hoisting a trophy start and overall club performance to a ton of pregame planning. simply wouldn't have been acceptable. "We had a lot of team meetings," McNeice said. "We "We got beat out in the semifinals (against the King's Christian Collegiate Cavaliers) and we just put a great game plan together, with a lot of attention wanted to come back with a vengeance this year," paid to help defence. It's a really good effort from the whole team." Bozuk said. Though the Tigers played a much better second The Patriots beat the T.A. Blakelock Tigers 61-41 Wednesday at Sheridan College to capture the Halton half, Blakelock head coach Ross Sumner lamented the slow start. Tier 2 title and end the "We came out a little season with a perfect 14-0 Log onto www.insidehalton.com/photozone flat," he said. "A few calls record. to view photo galleries of Wednesday's in the first quarter were "I'm just so proud we really not going our way put the Pearson program Halton high school basketball finals but we just weren't able back on the map," Pearson to keep our feet moving head coach Corey Trodd said. "This isn't the first time this program has had a and move the ball around enough. A lot of standing still didn't really help our momentum." tremendous record. The two clubs met once during the regular season "We've been building this senior program for four years and you like to see all your work come together on Dec. 14 with Pearson winning 44-42. The Tigers' in the final. The best way to celebrate is to play your only two losses on the year came at the hands of the best basketball in the biggest setting on the biggest Patriots. Sumner said it's just not a couple of players that night and win in convincing fashion." The Patriots definitely accomplished that in the make Pearson such a successful team. "There's not really one or two standout players, but victory, as they stormed out to a 30-12 lead by the it's a standout squad," he said. "There are 10 guys half. "Our interior defence was phenomenal," Trodd said across the board that are skilled, well-disciplined and of his club's play during the first two quarters. "They well-coached." Blakelock's Lazar Kojovic led all scorers with 23 weren't getting to the rim, they weren't getting post touches and they weren't getting baseline drives. We points. Pearson's George Babic and Dustin MacTaggart as a whole group just locked them down to the outside answered with 16 and 11 points, respectively. By Ryan Glassman SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Christi's Brent Noseworthy to attempt a layup during Wednesday's Halton high school junior boys Tier 1 final. The Titans routed Corpus Christi 64-29 to clinch a second straight unbeaten season. HANG TIME: Holy Trinity guard Kimbal MacKenzie (right) drives past Corpus ERIC RIEHL / OAKVILLE BEAVER Opposing coach says Titans had `no weaknesses` Continued from page 27 "Our defence has really carried us the whole year," he added. "If we could keep them under 40, we knew we could score more than 40. We've been keeping a lot of good teams under 40 like Corpus Christi and we were fortunate to come out with the (margin of victory) that we had." Longhorns head coach Rob Biturajac described the Titans afterwards as a team with "no weaknesses." "They won every quarter, they outworked us, they outhustled us, they were the better team today and they are a great team on the year and their record speaks for itself," he said. "They've been the best team in Halton the last few years and for us to beat them we had to play our best game. Today, we didn't play our best. "A couple of our turnovers led to some easy baskets for them. We got behind, we continued to turn the ball over. We had plenty of shots during the game and we just couldn't execute our shots down the stretch." While it is too soon to be thinking about a third consecutive undefeated season for Holy Trinity, MacKenzie believes as long as Esteban is the head coach, the team will always be among the region's elite. "(Esteban) helped me train even when there was no practice," the point guard said. "Though he yells at us sometimes and gets on me a lot, it doesn't matter because I know he's trying to help me. He's a great coach." Besides MacKenzie, the Titans' Lucas Orlita and Evan O'Dell also had impressive afternoons as both scored 14 apiece.