Michael Peterkin Earns MVP As Crescent Captures CAIS Championship!
ST. CATHARINES–Crescent quietly took care of business heading into the CAIS championship game to take on St. Andrew’s. Following four quarters of disciplined defence and veteran leadership, Crescent picked up a 58-41 trademark victory over a strong and talented St Andrew’s team.
“It’s the first time Cresecent has hung up a banner of this magnitude and these kids have earned that right to be a part of history,” Head Coach Ari Hunter told NPH.
Michael Peterkin earned Tournament MVP and explained the importance of the win.
“I think it’s big for our team, and a big deal for the school..we will celebrate and enjoy this win.”
Several players contributed to get the job done. Senior Point Guard Michael Simonetta hit big shots throughout the game to keep the distance and momentum in crescent’s favour. Simonetta registered a game-high 18 points.
Nicholas Morris did a great job containing Chris Egi in the post, limiting his offensive production, while Phil Fournier also contributed offensively for Crescent.
Coach Hunter outlined the progress that this team has made as a result of their commitment and work ethic.
“For these guys its absolutely huge…they’ve come through two years with me and we took our beats. We would lose to St Andrew’s, we would lose to Ridley, we would get it handed to us by the teams that were putting in the work,” he said.
“These men made a commitment three years ago to work hard, get in the weight room and do all the things necessary to be a serious athlete, and they did it; this is a by product of their hard work.”
Entering the championship game, Crescent looked to be the underdog due to the fire power that St. Andrew’s possesses. Clearly, Coach Hunter and his squad thought otherwise and used the buzz as motivation.
“I did use some of the hype surrounding our opposition; I said ‘NPH thinks that St. Andrew’s is the team to beat‘”
As a result, Crescent approached the game with an edge, a certain confidence that became evident.
With this being said, there is plenty of work that needs to be done through the long journey that is the 2012-2013 season.
“This is early days, our ultimate goal is what happens in Februrary and March.”
St. Andrew’s will be hungry, Crescent will be confident and the private school league will be interesting!
