Dartmouth Drops Horton 83-59 for NS Division 1 Crown
NSSAF Division 1 Provincials
Top 25 Scoring Averages
- Lorenzo Parker Horton 29.0
- Brandon Miller Lockview 26.3
- Ryan MacPhee Sydney Academy 25.3
- Jesse Clark Cobequid Education Centre 22.6
- Alex Chisholm Lockview 22.3
- Travis Adams Citadel 20.6
- Ty Ewing Auburn 20.5
- Duncan MacDougall Sydney Academy 20.0
- Isiah Thomas Citadel 19.0
- Emad Khalek Cobequid Education Centre 18.6
- Bradley Johnson North Nova 18.0
- Marcus MacLean North Nova 17.3
- Jayden Nordin Citadel 17.0
- Grayson MacDonald North Nova 17.0
- Mo Downey Dartmouth 16.6
- JJ Wilson Dartmouth 15.6
- Brad Fuller Horton 15.3
- Maurice Colley Dartmouth 15.0
- Derek Walker Lockview 14.3
- AJ Simmonds Auburn 14.3
- Bryson MacDonald North Nova 14.3
- Jordan Redding Citadel 12.6
- Ashton Slawter Dartmouth 12.6
- Dan Sule Auburn 12.0
- Shaquile Johnson Auburn 12.0
GREENWICH, NS–The 2012 Division Boy’s Championship was decided at Horton High School this past Saturday with The Dartmouth Spartens using a total team effort to capture the title over the Horton Griffins.
Dartmouth High opened the game with a heavy hand of guard pressure, forcing Lorenzo Parker into the primary ball handler responsibilities which disrupted his ability to score. Dartmouth continued a total team effort and, possession by possession, took Horton further away from what they wanted to do and opened a 20-13 lead.
Coach Bruce McLauglin spoke with NPH after the game and stated “Our game plan was tough D and to take Parker and Fuller out of it.” And that’s what the Spartans did, they held the hot shooting Parker to just 16 points and only 6 field goals throughout the game and held Fuller to 5 points and made Adam Melanson a primary scorer.
Horton’s 1-3-1 caused some problems for Dartmouth as they could not get a consistent flow but they continued to play great D and score off it to open up a 44-27 halftime lead. Coach McLauglin also spoke on this, “we have quality kids who don’t focus on the score sheet, all they care about is winning together” which was demonstrated in the second half as Dartmouth started moving the ball around and used a very unselfish and productive passing game to shred the Horton 1-3-1 and extend the lead to as many as 30 in the second half. Horton kept battling but could not withstand Dartmouth balance team effort and fell by an 83-59 score.
Coach McLauglin again stated “losing that Regional Championship to Auburn gave us the focus needed in practice this past week to obtain our ultimate goal a Provincial Championship”.
NPH tried to speak with Dartmouth players after the game and they were at loss for words with the gravity of the situation, however JJ Wilson stepped up and said “we’re a team that has gone through some ups and downs but we believe in and trust in each other and we fought through and won, that’s how we beat Citadel”.
This stops a 15 year dry spell for Dartmouth in the Provincial Championship area. Congrats to the Spartans, the most team oriented team I’ve seen play this year. They gave up individual stats for ultimate team success and that’s why this group of upstanding/outstanding young men are PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONS.
Recap Day 1
In the opening round of provincials all four of the top seeds managed to survive and move onto the semi finals setting up two fantastic games. In the opening game #2 Dartmouth defeated #7 North Nova. North Nova still playing without star guard David Benoit put in a great effort and hung around as though it seemed. However the Spartans were doing what the Spartans do. They played great defensive behind guard pressure from Ashton Slawter, JJ Wilson and Justin Beal’s and possession by possession controlled the game to a 106-78 win.
Dartmouth Top Scorers: Mo Downey 27, JJ Wilson 21, Maurice Colley 18, Justin Beals 14
North Nova Top Scorers: Grayson MacDonald 23, Bradley Johnson 22, Bryson MacDonald 16
In game two #3 Citadel handled #6 Cobequid Education Centre as Jesse Clark did all he could to keep his team in the game while Jayden Nordin and Isiah Thomas of Citadel looked down guard Emad Khalik. In the end CEC had no one that could handle Travis Adams skill and size in the paint. Citadel took the game 91-78
Citadel Top Scorers: Travis Adams 33, Isiah Thomas 22, Jayden Nordin 21
CEC Top Scorers: Jesse Clark 29, Nicholas Roberts 19, Daniel MacLeod 12
In Game 3 the host #4 Horton battled #5 Sydney Academy in what was the best and closest game of the day. The half time score was 41-27 for Horton but it was a game that if Sydney had made a few more wide open looks it would have been very close. That’s what happened in the third quarter; Sydney came out and made shots and a run but could not take the lead closing the gap to 7 at the end of the quarter. Horton locked down better defensively and cruised to a 76-66 win.
Horton Top Scorers: Lorenzo Parker 30, Brad Fuller 18, Adam Melanson 8
Sydney Academy Top Scorers: Ryan MacPhee 16, Duncan MacDougall 15, Matt Farrel 12, Darcy Kirton 12
In the final game of the day #1 Auburn defeated #8 Lockview. Lockview came out of the gate firing and to prove they could play with the defending provincial Champions and took a 23-22 lead after one quarter. The game basically went back and fourth for the next two quarters as Lockview kept hanging around. However Lockview lack of stamina and Auburns depth got to them in the fourth quarter as they outscored Lockview 27-13 in the quarter for the 104-84 win.
Auburn Top Scorers: Shaquile Johnson 20, AJ Simmonds 16, Ty Ewing 16, Bruce Willis 11
Lockview Top Scorers: Brandon Miller 24, Alex Chisholm 18, Derek Walker 17
Recap Day 2
I was not able to attend the Consolation Games due to other work commitments so only the scores are provided.
Game 5 CEC 74 Jesse Clark 25, Emad Khalek 15, Nicholas Roberts 10, Daniel MacLeod 9, Taran Jordan 9 Taeshon Best 5 Tyrell Johnson 1. North Nova 67 Marcus MacLean 19, Bryson MacDonald 14, Brad Johnston 14, Grayson MacDonald 11, Garrett Rivers 7.
Game 6 Sydney Academy 92 Ryan MacPhee 33, Duncan MacDougall 33, Jason Hardy 6 Nathan Cloake 6, Jacob MacDonald 5, Jalen Borden 2
Game 7 Semi Final #1, #4 Horton against #1 Auburn. Auburn showed up to play and looked very determined in this game as they took control early and maintained control winning the first three quarters and leading 70-60 going into the fourth. With about 7 minutes remaining Bradley Fuller of Horton stepped up and gave teammate Lorenzo Parker some help. Fuller Gave Horton its first lead of the second half on a baseline three and then stole the ball and threw down an breakaway dunk. Fuller scored 10 straight points for and gave Horton a 5 point edge then senior Lorenzo Parker took over by going to the basket and drawing fouls. It appeared that AJ Simmonds had sent the game to OT when he nailed a clutch 3 with 8.5 seconds left, however a teammate fouled Parker on the ensuing inbounds and Parker cashed in both free throws for the 98-96 win.
Horton Top Scorers: Lorenzo Parker 41, Brad Fuller 23, Alex Thomas 17
Auburn Top Scorers: Ty Ewing 25, Dan Sule 20, AJ Simmonds 14, Davonte Provo 13
Game 8 Semi Final #2, #2 Dartmouth verse #3 Citadel. Both teams came out with a lot of defensive intensity which led to a slow scoring opening quarter that picked up towards the end as the quarter ended with and 18-18 tie. Citadel came out in the second quarter and created points off their defence as well as attacked Dartmouth defence and pushed the lead to as many as 10 and closed the quarter with a 42-34 halftime lead. In the second half Dartmouth kept plugging away and exploded for a 56 point second half behind Maurice Colley’s 14, JJ Wilsons 10 by taking it to the Citadel defence and getting Jayden Nordin and Travis Adams into foul trouble and eventually fouling out. Isiah Thomas and Jordan Redding did all they could and almost pulled off a late rally but Dartmouth held it off for a 90-89 win.
Dartmouth Top Scorers: Maurice Colley 19, Ashton Slawter 17, Akeem Berry 12, JJ Wilson 10
Citadel Top Scorers: Isiah Thomas 26, Jordan Redding 21, Jayden Nordin 12, Travis Adams 11
Day 3 Recap
7th Place Game. North Nova 86: Marcus MacLean 26, Bradley Johnson 18, Grayson MacDonald 17, Bryson MacDonald 13, Garret Rivers 6, Rene Amit 4, Liam Spears 2. Lockview 75: Brandon Miller 32, Alex Chisholm 14, Derek Walker 9, Jake Reilly 8, Peter Keyser 6, Cody Gray 2.
5th Place Game. CEC 88: Emad Khalek 30, Tyrel Johnson 18, Daniel MacLeod 15, Jesse Clark 14, Nicholas Roberts 8, Riley Dunlop 2, Taeshon Best 1. Sydney Academy 70 Ryan MacPhee 27, Jacob MacDonald 14, Duncan MacDougal 12, Jalen Borden 5, Nathan Cloake 5, Matt Farrel 4, Darcy Kirton 2, Jason Hardy 1.
3rd Place Game. Citadel verse Auburn. Citadel came out and jumped on Auburn and took an early double digit lead; however Auburn picked away at it behind Dan Sule’s aggressive attacks and the quarter closed at a 22-20 Citadel lead. Auburn kept coming with a balanced attack and took an 8 point lead mid way through the quarter. At this point the coaches decided to switch benched and coach the opponent and what should have been a very good high school game went away very quickly and became a Globe Trotter game. Even the refs packed it in and stopped blowing the game and allowed kids to travel to try and get dunks. At this point I basically stopped watching. They did however get back to playing basketball in the second half and Auburn held on for a 91-80 win
Auburn Top Scorers: Jordan Crawley 14, Quen Brooks 14, AJ Simmonds 13, Kellan Duke 13, Shaquile Johnson 10
Citadel Top Scorers: Jayden Nordin 18, Travis Adams 18, Jordan Redding 10, Isiah Thomas 9.
