
By Larry Moko
Bishop Ryan Celtics coach Mike DiClaudio could understand why his high school basketball team wasn't firing on all cylinders Wednesday.
"We're sluggish coming off the Christmas break," he said following BR's 50-37 victory over the St. Jean de Brébeuf Braves. "It takes a while to get back into the swing of things."
The last league game of 2024 for all eight Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic teams was Dec. 19 -- almost three full weeks ago.
"In these first few games after the break you've just got to work your butt off," DiClaudio said. "You've got to grind it out. It gets ugly at some point because the players are tired. An example of that was our missed layups a few times today."
With the result, the second-place Celtics improved their record to 7-2, while fourth-place Brébeuf slipped to 5-4.
Bishop Ryan pulled away mid way through the second quarter, snapping a 17-17 tie. The Celtics went on an 11-0 run to enter the intermission ahead 28-17.
Said DiClaudio:"At the half I told them the winner of this game is going to be the team that out-wills and out-works the other team."
BR then stretched its lead to 41-25 at the end of the third quarter.
"We rebounded very well today," the BR coach said.
The top scorer for Bishop Ryan was point-guard Adam Adili, who tossed in 12 points. Antonio Salinas and Sean Okafor contributed nine points apiece while Olak Kai chipped in with seven and Matthew Santino had five.
For Brébeuf , Alex Iredale sparked a late fourth-quarter comeback bid with five of his 12 points. That cut the margin to nine points with one minute, 25 seconds remaining.
Alessio DiGregorio added nine points for the Braves.
"As a team, I feel we were disciplined on defence," Adili said. "We got the stops that we needed.
"Offensively, we could have stepped on the gas a little more. But we got the win and that's all that matters."
Named the team's MVP last season when he was in Grade 11, Adili says he tries to contribute in all aspects of the game.
"I don't have a specific role. It's whatever is needed in the game, whether it's defence, scoring or an assist."
Brébeuf’s loss was its second of the home-and-home schedule against Bishop Ryan (61-48 on Dec. 17).
"Inconsistency has kind of been the story of our season," Braves coach Nathan Bruzzese said. "It's been hard with injuries and the flu that ran through our team. We haven't been getting a full team at practice."
This weekend, Brébeuf will be competing as the lone Hamilton Catholic entry in the prestigious Silver Fox tournament at Saltfleet District High School.
"We're inexperienced," the Braves coach said. "We might be the only team in our league without a fifth-year guy. We have some Grade 12s who were on the team last year, but their roles have expanded a lot this year.
"So we're slowly becoming a team. We show spurts that we can compete at the highest level in this league. But we've got to get consistent."
The Braves are defending champions.
In the only other senior game Wednesday, the St. John Henry Newman Cardinals edged the ACMT Jaguars, 53-51.
Photos by Richard Andoga
More photos on the HWCDSB Athletics Facebook page here



