Sunday 18 October 2009

Waterloo Warriors Capture Naismith Title

With thanks to Martin Timmerman... The Blues played without starting posts 6'5" Drazen Glizic and 6'7" Nick Snow. Snow is likely out for a while with a severely injured ankle. Waterloo's Cam McIntyre was hurt early in Sunday's game and did not return. The Blues were down 20-7 after the first quarter but closed the gap to 7 at halftime before coming on to take the lead by 3 with about 2 minutes remaining and 6'4" Pat Sewell on the line with a chance to maybe ice the game. Unfortunately, Sewell missed both free throws and Waterloo later took the lead. 6'0" Justin Holmes, who had made a couple of threes earlier, then missed one from downtown with 30 seconds left that would have tied it and the Blues then missed a couple of tip-ins before the Warriors corralled the rebound and iced the game on the foul line. Toronto played about 38 minutes of zone in the game which was very low scoring compared to how the teams were able to score in each of their first two games...

Martin's Report: The Waterloo Warriors defeated the Toronto Varsity Blues 61-56 on Sunday afternoon to win their second consecutive Naismith Classic championship. Fifth year senior Matt Hayes was named the tournament MVP for his efforts on the weekend. The Toronto Blues played without senior centre Nick Snow, injured in the Saturday game against Manitoba. Cam McIntyre was injured in the third minute of play and did not return to play, sitting at the end of the bench with ice on the ankle. Waterloo started quickly with a 5-0 run to start the game and a 10 point margin after the first period. The first half ended with Waterloo holding a 27-20 lead. In the second half, Toronto used a 9-0 run in the middle of the third period to take their first lead in that game at 34-32. From that point on it was a see-saw game with neither team able to put together an extensive run. The game was tied at 54-54 with less than two minutes to play. Waterloo closed out the game 7-2, stopping the Blues and hitting enough of their free throws to preserve the victory. Waterloo shot 40% from the field, with 39 of their points coming from three point territory. The Warriors also out rebounded the Blues 41-26. Tim Rossy had a career high 18 points to lead the Warriors in scoring. Ben Frisby added 10 points and 12 rebounds. For the Blues, Rob Paris provided 14 points, while Nick Magalas added 11. The second Naismith title in a row (they also won last year), is the first repeat title since the 1983-85 teams won three consecutive tournament titles.

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