Midget Boys Chatham-Kent Wildcats Golden at Provincials
Midget Boys Chatham-Kent Wildcats - 2011 Provincial Champions - Submitted Photo
The Midget boys Chatham-Kent Wildcats won Gold at the Provincial Championships held in Windsor this past weekend. The same group also won Gold last year.
The boys went into the weekend the seventh seed in their division and last in pool B. Friday night they faced the Brampton Warriors, the Wildcats jumped out to an early 6-0 lead but couldn’t hold on allowing the Warriors to tie the game after one quarter, 13-13 and take the lead at half 23-24. The Wildcats came out better in the second half building a 7 point margin after three quarters and winning the game 58-50.
Ian Smart lead the Wildcats with 13 points, 17 rebounds and 6 steals. Jake Lindley drained 9 free throws and added a three for 12 points and 4 assists. Joel Barwick and Jason Dorssers had 10 a piece.
Saturday the Wildcats came out again quickly going up 5-0 before the Vaughn Panthers came back with a 12-16 lead after one. By half the Chatham-Kent Wildcats were trailing by 10, 21-31. But true to form the boys never gave up and came roaring out in the second half taking a 2 point lead 33-31 in just eight possessions. At the end of three quarters, the Wildcats were up 43-40. In the fourth quarter, the two teams battled keeping the game close, but the Wildcats never relinquised the lead and finally pulled away in the end winning 59-51.
Ian Smart lead all scorers with 23, grabbed 10 rebounds and had 7 assists. Orien Crosby added 13 points and 6 assists. Griffin McTavish, Barwick and Lindley contributed 6 points each.
In Saturday’s second game the Chatham-Kent Wildcats faced Hype Sports also from Brampton. The Wildcats had already clinched first in their pool and Hype had been eliminated from playoff contention. The Wildcats came out flat and spotted Hype a seven point lead, but the boys regained their composure and finished the first with a one point lead, 14-13. By half the CK Wildcats had built a 36-25 lead and never looked back cruising to a 61-50 win and finished pool play a perfect 3-0.
Orien Crosby lead the Wildcats with 15 points and 8 assists. Nick Ladd added 11 points and McTavish 10 points and 5 rebounds; Dorssers contributed with 6 assists and new comer Travis Depencier netted 4 points.
On Sunday, the competition got a little stiffer, first up was the Durham City Bulldogs. This was another game that the Chatham-Kent Wildcats struggled early giving up a 6-22 first quarter lead, but a strong second quarter had the Cats down by just 3 at the half 24-27. In the third quarter the Wildcats battled hard but just could not take the lead falling back by as much as nine before ending the quarter down six 37-43. In the fourth, Chatham-Kent chipped away until they finally tied the game at 50. After tying again at 52, both teams struggled to put the ball in the basket with time running down. Griffin McTavish made two key steals to prevent Durham scoring opportunities and Smart made a free throw to break the tie. Pressuring the ball caused a Bulldog turnover and Barwick made it to the line to put the Wildcats up by two. The Bulldogs got another opportunity to tie but made only one free throw making it 54-53 with less than 20 seconds to go. The Bulldogs fouled Smart quickly after the missed free throw sending him to the line for two. Smart connected on both putting the Wildcats up 56-53 with only 4.3 seconds left. The Chatham-Kent Wildcats had two fouls to give and used one on the inbounds after a Durham timeout taking two seconds off the clock. Using the other foul on the subsequent inbounds the Wildcats sent the Bulldogs to the line for three shots after a controversial call by the referees. Everyone sat on the edge of their collective seats until the shooter missed his first shot, he also missed the second before hitting the third. The Wildcats inbounded the ball to kill the last 1.6 seconds and win the game 56-54.
Smart lead the team with 19 points, 7 rebounds and 9 steals. Crosby added 14 and 4 steals. Barwick had 9 points, Lindley had 5 assists and 5 steals.
The Gold medal game was another thriller. Reminiscent of their Gold medal game a year ago the Midget Chatham-Kent Wildcats came out on fire. They jumped to a quick 22-2 lead in the first quarter, finishing the quarter up 26-7. But the Waterloo Wildhawks were no quitters and they battled to a 41-29 deficit at the half. Chatham-Kent maintained their lead for most of the third quarter until Waterloo finished strong and trimmed the lead to 6, 56-50. In the fourth Waterloo continued to play hard and brought the game to within one. The Wildcats finally gave up the lead with time running out, down 63-64 the Wildcats never quit and Lindley hit 3 of 4 from the line and the Wildcats came home with a 67-64 win and another Gold medal.
Smart lead the Wildcats with his fourth double-double of the weekend pouring in 19 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Barwick added 13 points and 5 assists, Gabe Gagner scored 12, and Lindley and Crosby added 11 each. Lindley also had 7 assists.