Harry Ainlay Titans Overwhelm Royals in Commanding Quarter-Final Victory

Harry Ainlay Titans Sr. Boys v Handsworth Royals

December 13, 2024

 (photo credit: Blair Shier)

As Santa settled into his comfy couch for a long shift at Park Royal mall, student and parents settled into the less comfy bleachers at Handsworth Secondary. We were treated to an exciting Friday morning tip off with the Harry Ainlay Titans wearing solid blue and Handsworth Royals wearing white.

Handsworth started the game leaving too much room open down low which the Titans exploited early with good passing. Akhon Deng was benefiting and put some easy points on the board for Blue. Both teams channelled their inner Steph Curry and traded numerous attempts from beyond the arc, each converting only one. Score was a fitting 13-13 with 4 minutes to go in the first “Q”. After a brief undercarriage ailment, Liam Hadrill for Handsworth was back driving play at both ends of the court. Handsworth had seemingly sealed up their holes along the baseline but allowing more paths through the paint. Kom Majok took advantage. He chased up his quick drives to the net with a fast break layup and a 3-pointer. A well-rounded speedster that is a joy to watch. It initially appeared Harry Ainlay would carry momentum into the second quarter, but a fierce block by Liam Hardill had his bench on their feet to end the quarter. 23-18 after one.

Patel and Majok took turns making quick breaks in the early second quarter stretching the Harry Ainlay lead to 8. Handsworth displayed some balanced scoring from Miles Herbert and a couple of solo drives from Dara Shokouhian. These minimized the Harry Ainlay lead to only 3. After a breather, Majok was back on the court and quickly putting his mark on the scoreboard. Trent Meyers also chipped in with the long ball to go with his steady defensive play. More boys turned to the three ball and both teams traded shots from beyond the arc. Herbert was on the end of Handsworth’s attempt and followed it up with a fierce drive to the net. With Hadrill taking a well-earned breather, Herbert carried the play for white. Myers countered with a put-back and-1 that had his mates on the bench rather excited. The Titan-ic excitement carried forward ending the half with a slick pivot from Gavin Maik and a last second basket from Josh Cheririo. 49-38 Titans.

Halftime fun fact: brings me to the power of sport and friendship. Alex Steele and Scott Leigh are Alumni of the Titans and Royals respectively. Both took their pedestrian basketball talents to the “Ivy League” of the north: The University of Alberta Golden Bears. Today, Scott and Alex remain great friends thanks to the power of sport. This leaves me wondering what graduates on the court today will meet in their post-secondary endeavours.

The Mok show continued into the second half. His speed and quickness was hard to contain for the Royals and proved effective at both ends of the court. If he wasn’t scoring, he was opening up room for his mates in blue. Hadrill was showing determination to get his team back on track. His rebounding led to a sharp three by Sam Hartley. Unfortunately for the home team, Harry Ainlay answered back with a 3 of their own from Akhon Deng. The boys heated up and both teams went back and forth with the three-ball going a collective 4 for 4. This was quite a juxtaposition to the first half’s conversion rate. Some fresh young men entered the game off the bench.  Perhaps it was inspired by his pink Nikes, but Bardia Khayam showed great touch to finish the quarter with a delicate finger roll. The visitors were ahead 78-58 entering the final frame.

The Royals trainers presumably began filling the ice packs. 6 foot 5 Liam Hadrill was playing especially physical, ending up on the ground often while trying to inspire a comeback. His stat sheet neared 10 blocks and his shooting from the free-throw line improved to 100% in the second half. Kom Majok, the Titans leader, was on the bench presumably resting for an afternoon semi-final. The Harry Ainlay team was showing their depth. They spread around the scoring and punctuated this by a windmill-reverse layup by Jordan Chieriro. It was a honey-nut Chieriro show as the brothers led the Titans with pace in the final quarter. Handsworth played hard to the end but was unable to mount a comeback against the speed of Harry Ainlay. The Titans prevailed 105 to 68 and will advance to the semi-final.

Player of the game was Trent Myers for the Titans and Miles Herbert for the Royals. Thank you to both teams and referees for a well-played and entertaining game.