Vaughan Road Vipers Run Over Young Bucks At Rim Rocker, Brandon John Takes MVP!

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Championship Game Top Performers:

Vaughn Road Vipers

Rakim McFarlene – 22pts, 4rbs            

Brandon John – 21pts, 9rbs  – MVP         

Dejazmatch James – 13pts            

Yusuf Ali – 8pts, 9asts           

Brampton Centennial Bucks 

Kamar Manning – 13pts, 6rbs, 2ast

Tournament All-Stars

Yusuf Ali (Vaughan Road)

Reece Brooks (Brampton Centennial)

Kamar Manning (Brampton Centennial)

Cassidy Ryan (Mount Carmel)

Patrick Street (Richview)

MISSISSAUGA,ON–After spending long hours in the gym over the past three days, an important lesson that was reiterated by all coaches in post game interviews; is that selflessness is the key to coming out of tournaments with a championship. Every individual on the team must understand and believe in this philosophy.

The guys from Vaughn Road showed that they would use this as armour to compete against all challengers, and that is how they came up with a win over a young Brampton Centennial Bucks team by a blowout score of 91-48.

Simply put, Vaughan Road came out firing from three point land and hitting somewhere around 75% of shots taken from the field. In fact they had connected for 10 threes in the first half and had outscored BC 35-9 in the second quarter. 

Dejazmatch James and Brandon John had three triples each at the end of the first half. John was named tournament MVP after a stellar performance and consistency throughout the Rimrocker.

By this time the young Bucks had been devastated and did not know how to respond to such a flurry of efficient shooting. After leading their team in scoring throughout the entire tournament, Kamar Manning finished with 13 points.

This can be credited to the guard heavy team of Vaughn Road. They did an excellent job getting to trap areas on the court and forced the Bucks to take difficult shots. 

Although head coach of the Vipers, Wilton Hall is well heard and communicative during games, he didn’t need to tell the boys anything in preparation for championship game, other than, “keep hydrated with gatorade or water and eat some bananas and oranges.”

“You know, they really wanted it…” which showed since they had no mercy all four quarters. “This was a statement game and tournament for us.”

Coach Hall also credits his bench for stepping up in big moments and pulling through offensively.

The Vipers won this tournament without their 20+ point scorer Johneil Simpson. This is a testament to what teams can achieve when all members are working in unison.

Brampton Centennial for the most part is a young team that lacks experience and will need to learn how to overcome deficits and keep their emotions in tact. Moreover, they are a well coached team that will surely grow both mentally and physically as the season continues.

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BRONZE MEDAL TOP PERFORMERS:

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Crusaders

Cassidy Ryan – 17pts, 6rbs, 1blk

Richview Saints

Patrick Street – 25pts, 4rbs, 1stl

The Crusaders were not particularly happy about winning Bronze because they’ve been third place at the Rimrocker for three consecutive years. After their 23 point win over Richview, they stuck around and were “sick to their stomach” and upset with themselves for not getting to the finals, feeling that they could have played better than the Bucks did against the Vipers.

If it wasn’t for the hot streak of Patrick Street, the Crusaders would’ve hurt the Saints on the scoreboard even worse. 

The ball movement of MC is something the Saints could not keep up with. This was the type of ball movement that head coach Rob Tucci and assistant coach Brandon Lodenquai would have liked to see in their semi-final game, where they were defeated by this years champions by only eight points. 

“In this game it was a great team effort, and I was happy with the way we got everyone touches, but this is something that we need to do for all four quarters” referring to previous and future games.

Their 2015, 6’2 shooting guard, Paul Galas was able to get to open spots and his teammates got him the ball often for non-contested three point shots that he would drain.

After this year, the Crusaders will be losing a bunch of seniors so this Rimrocker would’ve been the time to go for it all. 

The NPH team would like to thank all conveners and organizers involved in making the Rimrocker a success for the ninth consecutive year and for having us at their event.