
By Larry Moko
Assistant basketball coach Jordan Rimac of the St. John Henry Newman Cardinals knows a thing or two about come-from-behind victories.
During his playing days at Newman he was largely responsible -- as a quarterback -- for leading the Cardinals to one of the greatest comeback wins in the history of Hamilton high school football.
And Tuesday, as a first-year full-time teacher and coach at the Stoney Creek school, he helped Newman to its first win of the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic senior boys' basketball season.
Once again, Newman fought back from a deficit. But it wasn't nearly as much of an uphill climb. The Cardinals trailed by five points late in the third quarter before pulling out a 55-50 decision over the visiting St. Mary Crusaders.
As a result, Newman improved to 1-2 in the standings and St. Mary slipped to 0-3.
'The Comeback' as it is known at Newman, took place at Tim Hortons Field in 2015 when the Cardinals rallied to defeat the St. Thomas More Knights for the championship, 35-31.
"We were down 31-1 at the half," Rimac recalled. "It was a cold day in November and we just found a way, possession by possession.
"It was quite the game. I still think about it all the time. I don't know a lot about Hamilton sports history, but for sure it's got to be Newman's biggest comeback."
On the court, the Cardinals led 29-22 at the half before the Crusaders went on an impressive 13-3 run to start the third quarter.
"Our kids worked really hard," Crusaders coach J.W. Gillies said. "We came out in the third quarter and erased the lead right away."
Newman then pulled ahead to stay, 46-44, with five minutes left on a driving layup by Carlos Villareal.
"At the end we got a little tired and we didn't do a good job of protecting our rebounds, particularly defensive boards," Gillies said.
George Elgundy scored a game-high 15 points for Newman, while his teammates C.J. Villanueva, Fernando Suffoletta and Villareal contributed 10 apiece.
St. Mary got 12 points by John Makarski and 10 from Nolan Robinson. Britton Gahirwa, Thomas Wilson and Val Tarvydas chipped in with eight each.
"Defensively we cleaned some things up in the fourth quarter and we held them to eight points," Rimac said. "Offensively we were able to build off our defence by getting stops and pushing the ball in transition to get easy baskets.
"We're a very athletic team and we've got some size. We're hoping to build on this result."
Both teams came off tough losses in their previous outings. Newman went down in overtime to the ACMT Jaguars and St. Mary led all the way against St. Thomas More until the Knights grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked it out for a 3-point basket with 10 seconds to play.
"I think we're right there with all the teams in the league except Cathedral ... they're very strong," Gillies said. "Our goal is to be competitive and learn the first time through against all the teams. Then, the second time, position ourselves for the playoffs." Rimac has a passion for both football and basketball.
"With the long basketball season a team that is really good in November and December sometimes isn't the team that wins at the end of the year," he said. "You can really grow. There's a long time to rectify things that are going wrong."
In other action, the Bishop Tonnos Titans (3-0) remained in a tie for first place with Cathedral by downing ACMT, 62-56. The Gaels topped the Bishop Ryan Celtics, 79-40, and the St. Jean de Brébeuf Braves defeated More, 72-68.
Photos by Richard Andoga
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