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Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2008 33 Airtight defence STA holds off Hawks' rally, still perfect in boys' hoops By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF TIGERS STAY UNBEATEN: T.A. Blakelock Tigers' Blake Fletcher (13) leaps in the air in an attempt to defend Iroquois Ridge player Frank Lake's inbounds pass during Monday's Halton high school junior boys' basketball game at Blakelock. The Tigers prevailed, 61-44, and carried a 10-0 record into yesterday's regularseason finale against the M.M. Robinson Rams. Blakelock is seeking its first Halton junior boys' basketball championship in 31 years. DEREK WOOLLAM / OAKVILLE BEAVER Monday's clash between the undefeated St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders and the 8-1 Loyola Hawks had the potential to be a great high school basketball game. It wasn't -- it was two great games rolled into one. And each team would rather just forget about one of them. In the end, Aquinas escaped with a 64-58 victory as it ran its record to 10-0. "People will look at the score and see a six-point game and figure that's what they expected," said Loyola senior boys' coach Gary Laurin. "But the way it got there is pretty unbelievable." The Raiders dominated early, building a commanding 31-point lead late in the third quarter, and seemingly had nothing to worry about. Then the second game began. The Hawks reeled off 22 consecutive points in a span of six and a half minutes. Suddenly, the Loyola fans, who just 10 minutes earlier were sitting with their chins resting in their hands, were on their feet. With Aquinas leading 58-27, Matt Kennedy's two three-pointers at the end of the third seemed like nothing more than an attempt to make the score a little more respectable. But the shots just kept falling in the fourth. Led by Ostap Choliy's drives to the basket and the shooting of Adrian Zagabe, the Hawks cut the lead to nine with three minutes to play. Loyola pressured Aquinas into several turnovers and with two minutes left, Matt Ozimec stole the ball, carried it outside and drained a three to make it an eight-point game. Turnovers also helped set up a pair of Adam Presutti treys in the final minute but the Raiders were able to run off enough time in between to hang on for the win. "We thought the game was over," said Aquinas coach Mark Maga. "We put our second string in, but they have to do a better job. There can't be that much of a drop off. (Loyola) got the momentum and we couldn't get it back, even when we made changes. We were lucky to stave them off." It was a complete 180 from the rest of the game, when Aquinas seemingly could do no wrong. The Raiders opened the game with a 16-4 run. "We had some slow starts so we talked about coming out strong, especially coming off the (two-week exam) break," Maga said. "We played great. Everything we wanted to do, we got it done in the first half." The Raiders' Kyle Enright (12), Trevor Williams (11) and Ryan Thomson (11) were all in double figures before the half and Jon Silver, who finished with a teamhigh 14 points, joined the group by the two-minute mark of the third as the See Loyola page 35 www.oakvillesoccer.ca 2008 OUTDOOR OPEN REGISTRATION SATURDAY FEBRUARY 9, 2008 9:00 AM ­ 12:00 PM TOWN HALL ­ SOUTH ATRIUM (1225 TRAFALGAR ROAD) PROOF OF AGE REQUIRED MASTERCARD/VISA/DEBIT/CASH & CHECK ACCEPTED NEW & RETURNING PLAYERS DON'T DELAY... LAST OPEN REGISTRATION AT TOWN HALL THE OAKVILLE SOCCER CLUB WILL NOT BE ACCEPTING ANY REGISTRATIONS FEBRUARY 4 ­ 8, 2008 SOCCER SEASON BEGINS WEEK OF MAY 12TH 504 Iroquois Shore Rd., Unit #11, Oakville, ON L6H 3K4 Tel: 905-849-4436 Fax: 905-849-3677 The Oakville Beaver A Proud Sponsor of Oakville Soccer Club Thanks to our Proud Sponsor: