But in the past month, McCrae‘s stom- ach has settled nicely. mainly because the some thing has happened to Warriors' game. In fact, some nights their play was downright nauseating. l Knights must reach for the sky] As might be expected. University of Waterloo basketball Warriors' roller coaster tendencies earlier in the year brought queasy feelings to coach Don McCrae's stomach. use a - 'ttATeRCoo CHRONICLE. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY ir, an The roller coaster is more of an even-keeled groove and smooth city reached a high point last Friday when Warriors made their first appearance at Window's new St. Denis Hall a victorious one. unending the border city Lancers as 81. The victory was Warriors sixth in their past seven games. with the only interven- ing loss coming when periodic lapses cost them a 70-0 decision to Western " days ago. and after a diam H sun to this season. Warriors at " beading Into last A baseline drive by Bluevale‘e Keith Lazenby netted him two at his 27 points in this game against Preston Panthers Friday. A trail of Preston players headed by Rott Kent look on. Knights completed the preliminary istatton, with a perfect BO record, including a 58-54 win over St. Jerome‘e, but now must face awesome Cameron Golden Gaels in the Waterloo County semi-finale. (Photo by Terry James) “in past years we were usually riding a pretty good crest atJhis point. we knew what we had to win and how we had to do it to win first place," said McCrae Tuesday. “it was basically a serieS'of measurable goals. But of course our 0-4 record this, year scrubbed that thinking. "I think time has been a factor, and we've got a good group of fellas. at no point have they considered packing in the season. regardless of the fact everyone makes the playoffs. Yes. pride In their game has been a major factor too. they're applying themselves to the game more, and that's really paid'off. especially with the kids like (Peter) Savich and (Bob) Uroaevic. And the return of Rich Kurt: the last couple of games has really helped us Mervin, he really shook the cages at night's game with McMaster must once again be considered a serious threat for league's brass ring. Kurt: led Warrior scoring with " points Notes: Windsor got back on the winning track Saturday. edging WLU Golden Hawks lei-VI in a highly-entertaining overtime contest. Four Hawks were dow ble figures in the shoot-out affair, with Bob Fitzgerald bagging 28. Scott Bryson M, Brno Plaza " and Dave Eyck l2. The 3-7 Hawks were at Western last night and return home Friday night to play Guelph in their regular - finale. Warriors conclude their regular season on the road Saturday against Brock Badgers, a televised game starting at 2 p.m. in St. Catharines. "Brock's still trying to win a top playoff spot, and the fact they've never beaten us and didn't like losing to us here last time. and with the TV and all. there's a lot of reasons for them to come out full bore." said McCrae. against Windsor as Warriors built up a 53-34 halftime lead. Four others in double figures included Savich with M. Scott King with 12. Phil Jarrett and Clayt Ninham, each with IO. . Knights, no slouches in their own right, would have liked a second vs. thir¢and first vs. fourth format since their match with St. Jerome's at the season outset as well as Saturday indicated they are extremely well, matched. but that's water under the Knights. despite knowing that fin- ishing third would mean facing Ca- meron in the semis if pool results went according to form, nonetheless sent Eastwood into fourth with a last game regular season win, and are far from down in the dumps at the prospect of seeing their season end against Cameron. The top two County teams advance to Central western Ontario play and based on the draw, which in no way is meant to cast aspersions on the quality of either Cameron or Tom Kieswetter’s excit- ing St. Jerome's crew. those two schools appear to have the inside track on the CWOSSA slots. Still somewhat perturbed with the questionable at best playoff structure that sees first play third and second fourth in the semis. Rajnovich lauded the play of Knights in weekend preliminary action that saw them dismiss Preston Panthers 65-48, St. Jerome's 58-54 and Forest Heights 83- 46. But those in attendance at the contest know how deceiving the score was, and BCI mocoach Tom Raj- novich waxed philosophical Tuesday when sizing up the club's collision course with Cameron. There really is no reason to believe Knights 'will provide anything more than a mild case of indigestion for the undefeated pennant winners. if their 81-59 loss in regular season is used as a measuring stick. Gaels, an absolute crack collection of angers molded by coach Court Heinbuch ' have spent the winter gttiiivanting around the province bop- ping would-be pretenders to the pm vincial throne by wide margins. How discouraging it must be for those left within Gaels own Waterlo County loop when they Fee the Cameron club cruise over ranked units by IO, 15, as many as 20 points and more! More commonly known as Cameron Heights collegiate, the Joint will no doubt be hopping as Knights attempt to become a permanent roadblock in Golden Gaels' path of destiny which in all likelihood will not stop before the Ontario finals. By Rick Oomph." Chm Sports Edna At approximately 8:30 pm. tonight. weather and wet floorboards permit- ting, Bluevale Knights will commence their senior boys basketball semi-final in heU's kitchen. Should make for a most interesting - and who knows how shocking - combination. There is no question, the odds are stacked against Knights in this tango. But they are young, intelligent and calculating - and most important - they have absolutely nothing to lose, and everything to gain. "We have to work on eliminating our bad moments," sized up Rar novieh of tonighPs game and Friday's (4 p.m.) return match at Bluevale. "Our game against Cameron came at a time when we hadn't played a lot of strong teams just prior to that, and I'm sure our guys were a little bit in awe ... of how 'mystically' good Cameron is supposed to be. Now we've played them, though, we can't use that as an excuse any more" "The kids really wanted that game badly, if we lose, we're looked upon as a distant third. and besides, four straight years St. Jerome's has knocked these kids out of the playoffs. We were kind of getting sick of losing. to them. The guys played with a lot p, more pride this weekend-than we have for a long time." Counting all triumphs in their cur- rent tour-game win streak, Knights have clearly established themselves as one of the top three clubs in the County, and Saturday's win over St. Jerome's, a game which saw Knights storm back in the.fourth quarter to outscore their foes 16-2 in the waning minutes, was the one BCI really want- Keith Lazenby was Knights big gun on the weekend. bagging 21 against Preston. 19 against Forest Heights and 16 against St. Jerome's. Craig Kermer had IT, IT, and no respectively and Rob Faulhammer continues to supply Knights with. that crucial third-man performance. Other Knights also shared the weekend spotlight. like guard Bryan Dean, who iced the win over St. Jerome's with, successful one and bonus shots in the final seconds. bridge now and the team is psych gically as well as physically bracing for Cameron. ' "We'0 play them straight up, you have to admit there's more talenton their team, but right now the score is tied and it's up to them to beat us.’ said Rajnovich outlining Bluevale’s approach. "The game they beat us, we analysed where we had a couple of two or three minute breakdowns. but other than that we went straight up with them most of the game. " Analysis RICH KURTZ