PICKERING 52, EASTERN 47

Trojan's Head Coach Ron Parfitt goes out a Champion at OFSAA

by Broadcast Sports Staff
Updated March 27, 2007

Hamilton - Pickering Trojans guard Devoe Joseph flashed a brilliant smile, showing a mouth full of multicoloured braces as he posed for pictures with a gold medal around his neck and the gold trophy his Trojans had just won in a hard fought 52-47 win over the Eastern Commerce Saints in the final of the 2007 OFSAA 'AAAA' Boys Basketball Championship game at Cathedral High School in Hamilton.

Beneath that smile was relief after Joseph and his teammates almost squandered a 21 point second quarter lead.

"Eastern is a great team, we knew they would go on their run" says Devoe Joseph, who led all scorers with 25 points, but scored only 5 in the second half.

Joseph went on to say that winning the title with younger Brother Corey and Father, assistant coach David was very special.

"I can't explain it" he said, before adding "We can talk about it forever".

For Pickering Head Coach Ron Parfitt, this was a fitting end to a long coaching career. It was his first OFSAA championship in over thirty years of coaching.

"Relief! That we manage to hang on," says Parfitt, "Eastern did a great job to push us out of our offense, it was good defense by them"

Parfitt was reluctantly hoisted onto the shoulders of his players and assistant coaches. "It was a little embarassing, but it was a nice gesture" he said. For the players this was the only way for their Coach to retire. "We know how hard he works and how much he cares about us, for him this is a great acheivement" added Devoe Joseph.

It was not the end that Eastern Head Coach Roy Rana had in mind. The Saints were making their fourth trip to the finals in 6 years, but had shown inconsistent form throughout the first 4 games of the tourney, needing an overtime win in the quarterfinal game.

"We tried to slow them down and tried to make some shots said Eastern's Head Coach Roy Rana, "But credit Pickering they made the shots when it counted and we didn't."

Right from the jump it was clear the Trojans wanted to follow the same pattern that got them to the final game, knock down some early shots, build a huge early lead and coast to the finish. It worked in the first 3 games of the tournament, resulting in victories by an average margin of 49 points. However in the semi final game against second seed Henry Carr, Pickering led by 14 after three quarters and won by just a single point.

Led by Devoe Joseph and Harouna Mutumbo, the Trojans raced out to a 22-10 lead after the first quarter. Eastern had no answer as Pickering, kept firing, pushing the lead to 32-11 before the Saints cut the deficit to 38-22 at the half.

Devoe Joseph and Harouna Mutumbo combined to score 32 of Pickering's 38 first half total, on a dizzying array of slashing drives to the bucket and long-range jumpers.

Eastern did find the answer at halftime, employing a stifling aggresive zone defense that not only took the Trojans out of their offense and forced them to settle for long-range jump shots, and it almost won the game for Eastern.

Led by 6'6" forward James Clark, who finished with 12 points,The Saints outscored the Trojans 10-3 in the third, holding both Mutumbo and Devoe Joseph scoreless.

With 5:11 remaining in the fourth and the Trojans up 44-37, Devoe Joseph gave the ball away to Eastern's Alwayne Bigby. In an attempt to atone for the error, Joseph grabbed Bigby from behind as he attempted a lay-up. Bigby crashed to the floor and lay writhing in pain for a couple of minutes; he left the game but returned later.

Devoe Joseph was issued a flagrant foul, his fourth, one more and he's gone. If the Saints can knock down the free throws and score on the subsequent possession they could cut the deficit down to 2 points.

Tyler Murray replaced the injured Bigby at the foul line and sank the first free throw, however he missed the second, one of 5 missed free throws in the last 5 minutes for the Saints.

Saints trailed 49-44 with 57.4 seconds left when their captain and leader Chretien Lakusa made a driving lay-up. He was fouled on the play but missed the free throw that would have cut the deficit to 2. Lukusa was missing in the first half when his team needed him most, scored 8 of his 10 points in the second half.

Eastern got the ball again down by four but Devoe Joseph made a crucial steal with 21.4 seconds left. A couple of free throws made it a 2 possession game and Eastern was finished.



NOTES

About 1300 watched both the AAA and AAAA finals at Cathedral High School.

Pickering Coach Ron Parfitt who will retire at the end of June this year, says he will consider staying on as a consultant with the team. Parfitt says,"If I came back it would only be once in a while, so as not to be looking over the shoulders of my replacement".

A large number of Trojan players are expected to return next year, throw in transfer guard Juevol Myles and forward Dwayne Smith who were both ineligible for most of this year and the Trojans will be one of the favourites to win it all again.

Roy Rana is stepping aside as Head Coach of Eastern. He is taking a one-year sabbatical to focus on himself and his family. Rana has two young children. He says he hopes to return the following year.

In the AAA final number 3 seed Southwood Sabres from Cambridge won the gold medal with a thrilling 45-43 win over defending Champion and number 1 seed Catholic Central Comets from Windsor. Sabres 6'10" Centre Zach Nagtzaam is heading off to Ohio University on a scholarship while Comets 6'4" Forward Tyrone Crawford is pursuing a football scholarship in Texas.

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