Lancers Fall In Consolation Final
The UCC Lancers senior boys basketball team continued their strong season this weekend at the All-Catholic Classic in St. Catherines. The Lancers went 2-2 on the weekend, losing in the consolation final against some of the Province’s best teams.
“It was a great weekend for us as we played against exceptional talent and proved that we can compete with the best in the province and have the potential to upset the best as well,” said UCC coach Jim Dunlop.
The Lancers started their day against the top ranked team in Ontario and Canada, St. Mikes Toronto, and fought hard to a 76-48 loss. The team shot 58% from the floor, topped by Luke Allin and Aaron Rupert, who each scored 14-points.
Allin, who has had a strong season thus far and is one of the top recruited high school players in Ontario, drew further attention from scouts at the tournament.
“One of the most gifted high school players in Canada,” Tweeted Barry Hayes, a nationally recognized scout for Canadian basketball and the NCAA-Certified Hoopstars Canada recruiting agency, about the 6’7″ Allin. “Few guys his size with so much versatility. Ready for next level.”
In their second game, UCC used clutch free throws at the end of the game to secure the 68-63 victory over Father Goetz of Mississauga. Allin paced the Lancers with 24-points, while Rupert had 14, Logan Howard 10, and Jazz Miguel-White and Ian Comiskey each had 8-points.
Playing in the consolation semi-final against St. John’s of Brantford, Allin drained 21-points to lead his UCC Lancers to a 61-52 victory, and to send UCC to the consolation final. UCC again received balanced scoring, including 13-points from Comiskey, 9 from Miguel-White, 8-points from Zach Kaniecki, and Rupert, who chipped in with 7-points.
In the consolation final, UCC got off to a slow start, falling behind 16-1 to St. Francis, a strong team from St. Catherines. Although UCC fought back to make it 28-20 at the half, and again cut the lead to 33-30 after 3 quarters, the team came up a point short, missing a buzzer beater to lose 48-47. Allin again topped all UCC scorers with 13-points, while Howard had 12-points, and Miguel-White had 11.
UCC will host the Wallaceburg Tartans Wednesday at 7pm in the Kent Senior Boys semi-final. CKSS plays host to John McGregor Wednesday in the other Kent semi-final.
UCC enters the semi-final as the top ranked team with a perfect 11-0 record in Kent play.