(BOYS) Collingwood Cav's vs. Killarney Courgars worth the price of admission this morning

Written by Andrew Blackmore, Brentwood Grad ‘06

As both teams warmed up their was a palpable intensity in the air. The young men on both sides had a seemingly unspoken agreement with their respected teams of what they needed to do and an uncompromising will to do it. At first look the teams seemed equally matched in size and ability, which would surely lead to a great match to come.  #14 Castelli for the Cav’s and #1 Passave on the Cougars squared up for the jump and suddenly the clash of two titans began. Right away it was clear this was going to be a physical game. Cav’s #4 Collins led his team in points marked by smooth crossovers, charging layups, a clutch 3 pointer and steal. Both teams are running set offensive plays with names the likes of “tap” and “punch.” In the land of set offensive plays the single syllable play is king. At 3:26 left in the first quarter a time out is called by the Cougs and the score is tied up at 12-12. The crowd is slow to wake on this dark and rainy late fall morning. At the end of the first quarter the Cougars are up by a nail biting 16-15.

The start of the second quarter both teams didn’t waste time and picked up where they left off. The Cougars cycle the ball in the offensive end at a blinding speed, operating as a single unit.  At 5:55 left in the 2nd quarter the Cougs called a time out to re-asses their defensive strategy with the Cav’s up by 6. This seemed to shift the momentum in the Cougs favour. This was marked by a hot lay up from cougs #14 Dass and a fadeaway jumper from Cougs #1  Passave followed by a steal. Apparently I am not the only one who noticed this shift. With 2:50 left in the 2nd quarter  the Cougs are up 30-28 and the Cavs call a timeout to try and subdue the nipping predatory felines. With less than a minute left in the second quarter Cav’s #4 Collins makes a sky high 3 pointer that ties the game 35-35.

Cougars Fun fact:

Latine Name - Puma Concolor. Cougars can run up to 80 km/hr – terrifying.

As I predicted (it’s not a big deal) this has proved to be a close game. Both teams open the quarter with tenacious and quick paced baskets. Cougs #1 Passave missed an alley-oop but didn’t let it phase him and came back to charge a redeeming layup. At this point the Cougs know that Cav’s #4 Collins is a force to be reckoned with and addressed this with double coverage. This is beginning to open up offensive opportunities for Cavs # 8 Mohammedrezai. The momentum began rocking back and forth like a sailboat, mast down, caught in gail force winds. At 3:34 left in the third quarter the Cougars called a time out and were up 48-47. The end of the quarter was marked with Cougs #9 Phan threading the needle through the defense to score a cheeky lay up tying the game 52-52.

Start of the 4th quarter. It is do or die for both teams. Cav’s #7 Na understands this better than most opening up the quarter with a huge 3 pointer deep from what appeared to be the Mariana Trench. Cougs # 1 Passave saw this and began his offensive campaign, scoring 3 baskets in a row to keep the Cougs up 61-60.  With 4:16 left on the clock Collingwood called a timeout as the cougars started to slip away with a score of 68-63. In typical Cavs fashion #4 Collins was relentless in his offensive prowess – scoring a grinder of a  layup despite all defensive efforts and capitalizing on the drawn foul to bring the score to 71-66 for the Cougs. With 1:11 left in the game the Cougs call a time out and the score is 75-72 in their favour. Unfathomably Cav’s #4 Collins replicates his efforts by scoring yet another basket while drawing a foul which he took full advantage of. With less than minute on the board the score was tied at 75-75. It was apparent that Cav’s #4 lives for the clutch. He drew a foul which he was able to take one point away from to give the Cav’s a lead of 76-75 with less than 3 seconds left in the match. This proved to be too little time left for the Cougs to rebuttal. The crowd got more than they bargained for with this game and I would say it was well worth the price of admission.

No Regrets