St. Michael’s, NPH #6 Ranked Team Defeats #5 Catholic Central at Freeds!

NPH Top Performers

St. Michael’s

• Nelson Kaputo (Tournament MVP) – 21 pts,
• Godwin Boahen (1st Team All-Star) – 10 pts,

WINDSOR, ON–The type of championship game that fills up a gym. NPH’s nationally ranked teams, #5 Catholic Central Comets (Windsor, ON) and #6 St. Michael’s Raiders (Toronto, ON) faced off in the final of the Freeds 2012 tournament. The Raiders walked in as underdogs regardless of winning the past two championships at this tournament and the reasons for that being the size disadvantage, physical strength and their youth.

In this situation, the perceived underdog prevailed and St. Mike’s would take it’s third consecutive championship even in the absence of a major piece, 2014 #5 ranked player Malcolm Duvivier. In a battle that went to the final seconds the Raiders would defeat the home team Comets 62-59.

The young guns Nelson Kaputo and Godwin Boahen would walk away with MVP and 1st Team All-Star recognition respectively. Both guards won the Comets home crowd over by the end of the game as they came up with cluth buckets from the field and iced the game at the free throw line.

Off the tip Senior Comet Mychal Mulder threw down two dunks right after each other with eyes well above the rim. This fired up the CCH crowd and bench, however the Raiders took it in as just two points. The most striking attribute of this Toronto team is that they are extremely disciplined and do not let the hype get to them, they answered every CCH basket with one of their own.

“The big thing with us is we’re taking the right shots and making sure everyone’s on the same page, and we’ve emphasized that as a coaching staff. It’s got to be a team win…find the open guy, we don’t care who it is because we got guys on the perimeter that can shoot and they all bought in,” explained Head Coach of the Raiders Jeff Zownir”

Joe Cattana hit St. Mike’s first two available shots from deep to ensure the home team doesn’t slip away with an early advantage. The biggest lead of the game belonged to CCH which was 12 but they settled for too many unecessary threes instead of attacking the hoop which would ultimately cost them.

It wasn’t until the third quarter that #6th ranked team would take their first lead of the game after Kaputo would hit back to back long balls. The momentum switched near the end of the third quarter. Rashayne Case kept an excellent handle on the ball and orchestrated the Raiders offense.

Between Case, Kaputo and Boahen there was always a solid ball handler on the floor, all of which have a lot of playing experience and great IQ. The trio went 11 of 13 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter, showing  great poise and not buckling under pressure.

Head coach for the Comets, Pete Cusumano was furious with some of the senseless fouls that were being committed by his team as a sense of lazy feet on defense.

A rising star for CCH, Nyong James was a plus on the floor at all times providing energy, rebounding, scoring and altering shots.

Simon Polan-Couillard strapped up Mulder in the fourth allowing only two points and sealing out for boards on both end of the floor. He gave his team many extra possessions and second chances as the game came to an end.

Congratulations to the St. Michael’s Raiders on capturing their third straight Freeds tournament championship.

Thank You

NPH would like to thank Coach Cusumano and Catholic Central for their hospitality. The NPH team was first welcomed into Windsor by the Comets program in 2011 and all of our visits since have been memorable. We look forward to being back for OFSAA already!