Ontario 15U Team Takes Home It’s 5th Consecutive Championship, Marcus Ottey Picks Up MVP Honours

U15 MVP – Marcus Ottey – Ontario

U15 First team All-Canadians

• Jauquin Bore – British Columbia
• Daniel Cummings- Ontario
• Jerome Desrosiers- Quebec
• Torrez McKoy- Manitoba
• Nolan Narain- Ontario

SHERBROOKE, QC–Coming into this game there was a sought out vengeance that Quebec was after, since earlier in the tournament they were rolled over by Ontario by over 30 points. Their semi-final game against British Columbia gave the impression that they would come in as a different team and put up a strong fight against Ontario, and this was the case for the first half of the game. Quebec had a 16-10 lead in the first quarter, but the full court pressure proved to be too much to handle and gave Ontario many easy points under the basket. Not quite 30 this time, however Ontario came out on top 80-65 to capture gold at Nationals for the fifth consecutive time for this age group.

Most teams hung around with Ontario in the early parts of the game until they went on surges of five consecutive unanswered baskets. The  psychological damage that this did on the confidence and composure of Quebec again crippled them. To top it off, the team Ontario mentality is that they were going to pounce on any weaknesses or lapses in the opposition. Having this mentality is in itself an acquired skill that no other team seemed to have; when your team grabs hold of a comfortable lead, the strategy must be to assess which scoring ways have been working best and capitalize on these opportunities. In Ontario’s case traps, and full court pressure was the method to gaining on leads.

The player who spearheaded these actions and held the “conch” was tournament MVP, Marcus Ottey who averaged 2.5 steals per game. Most of his scoring came from strong takes to the rack while switching directions and showing body control. Ottey will be an even scarier guard once he picks up on a more reliable jump shot; that would take his game to a whole new level.  He had a masterful performance in the finals with a 26 point game while going 13/15 from the field and also helped in the rebounding category with six.

Ottey brought the packed gym to their feet after stealing the ball from a QC guard which resulted with a one hand jam on a QC defender. The explosive element in his game makes him an exciting player to watch. He has a knack for scoring and takes high percentage shots, often not requiring a rebound.

Rebounding was an area that hurt Quebec because of the inactivity from the guards to go after it. QC only had 25 rebounds in the game and Ontario had 40 coming from all positions. The shot selection by QC was also an area of concern, shooting 4/21 from the three point line instead of driving or dropping it in the post to Jerome Desrosiers who had a solid outing with 18 points.

Other players from Ontario who played very well throughout the tournament were also selected as First and Second Team All-Stars.

• Nolan Norain – First Team All-Star
• Daniel Cummings – First Team All-Star
• Keshon Montague – Second Team All-Star

Nationals are now wrapped up and its time to input many of these fine young talents into our database and rank them accordingly. As the high school season nears we are always looking forward to tracking the progress of the young and hungry.

Congratulations to team Ontario, Head Coach Jeff Giovanatti and Assistant Coaches, Jason Dawkins and Tony Marcotullio on a strong finish.