Mount Carmel Is SOSI 2012 Champion, Jason Lodenquai Earns Tournament MVP
The Mount Carmel Crusaders are the third team this weekend to pick up a tournament championship before heading into the Xavier Rim Rocker. The final score in the finals of SOSI (Southern Ontario Shootout Invitational) championship against a flu ridden Cardinal Newman Cardinals team was 61-49.
The dagger went in before halftime and was struck by 2012 shooting guard Tyrell Rogers who had hit five times from beyond the arc. Mount Carmel was on top the entire game and kept about a 15 point lead throughout. Senior PG for Carmel, Jason Lodenquai went home with a tournament MVP which he earned while aggressively defending ball handlers, picking up steals and controlling the floor.
In a championship game setting there is no room for excuses and Cardinal Newman wanted to make sure that they fought all the way through. There was spurts in the game where the Cardinals made a push to cut the deficit to 10 but that was the closest they got. Dimitri Rakas and AJ Manguerra hit a couple big shots in the fourth which would give them a final chance with five minutes to play, but that would not be enough.
Defensive rebounding of Paul Galas and a lot of help from the guards in this category turned into fast break points, dishing out to the open man on the outlet pass. Cassidy Ryan ran the lanes well and was the recipient of the outlet passes which turned to dunks or free throws as the last defender tried to catch up and stop the play.
An indicator of the Cardinal level of fatigue was evident because of a different speed then we’re accustomed to seeing. Head Coach of the Cardinals, Andrew Sergi mentioned after the game that they were also missing four of their players because of the sickness that had plagued the team this weekend.
Sometimes a championship in one tournament may mess with the psyche of a young individual and make them feel comfortable and not want to work hard the following week. With the Rim Rocker coming up the Crusaders can not afford to think this way, especially with another Crusaders team (Father Henry Carr) in that tournament.
Although Ryan is the centre piece of this team, Galas and Lodenquai are an integral part of the teams success and vital components in a another OFSAA run for Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
Lodenquai has been proven to handle the pressure of putting his team on his backs in certain situations; such as the semi final game of SOSI against Academie Catholique Mere-Teresa. Rogers and Galas had fouled out and Ryan had one foul too many to play major minutes so Lodenquai forced ACMT guard Hamid Nessek to turn over the ball while applying defensive man-to-man pressure.
They will not be able to afford foul troubles next week because the lack of size and depth on the bench.
Early next week the SOSI champs will participate in the Rim Rocker which will host a deep talent pool. Most teams will have CCAA, CIS and NCAA talent on their roster, meaning a very competitive tournament.
