By Larry Moko
Coach Luca Fortino of the Cathedral Gaels has high expectations for the school's senior boys' basketball team in 2024-25.
Even though Cathedral got eliminated on its home court in each of the last two league semifinals, Fortino believes his core of veteran players has benefitted from that experience.
The Gaels improved to 2-0 in the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic standings with an 87-38 victory over the Knights at St. Thomas More's gym Tuesday. And that comes on the heels of another one-sided Gaels win -- 76-32, over the defending-champion St. Jean de Brébeuf Braves.
"We have a lot of second and third-year players that have played with myself and (assistant) coach (Dwayne Harvey)," Fortino said. "They've been around with us for quite a few years so they know what we expect."
According to Fortino, Cathedral has been practising since mid September and already has 11 games -- tournament and exhibition play -- under its belt.
"I think that has a lot to do with it," he said of the Gaels' dominance thus far. "Some of the teams we're playing haven't really got started yet because of football."
Against the Knights, who were making only their third overall start, Cathedral raced to a 10-0 lead.
"We're a fast team," Fortino said. "We put the pressure on right from the get go. We come out and press. We make the other team play full court. We don't let them set up a half-court offence."
Fortino's squad features a handful of tall players and the rest are just athletic. In addition to playing aggressive defensively, he said the Gaels thus far have run the floor well, rebounded effectively and scored both at the rim and from outside.
The visitors held quarter leads of 32-8, 50-21 and 69-32.
"They're a good team," More coach Stef Giovannangeli said of the Gaels. "One through 10 they're very talented. They have a lot of returning seniors ... we're pretty young."
Josh Granger-Bigford of the Gaels scored a game-high 20 points. Jaden Campbell contributed 14, followed by Daveh Rose with 13, Wayne Bennett, 12, and Sammy Wleh, eight. Bennett's younger back-court brother, Mekhi, added seven points.
"They're pretty balanced players," the Cathedral coach said of the Bennetts. "They have a great touch from the three-point line (combining for three long-range baskets). Obviously we need that for spacing on the floor so we can work inside out with our big guys as well."
Thomas Connolly paced the Knights with 15 points, while Noah McNiece and Zion Stevens chipped in with seven apiece.
"It was a problem getting open shots today," the More coach said. "We did a poor job of penetrating and kicking it out to create those open shots."
It was More's first league game of the regular schedule.
"It's a long year," Giovannangeli said. "I told the guys that right now we have a very low floor but we've got a high ceiling. If we can all just buy in and keep working every day there's lots of room for improvement.
"We're going to try and make it competitive with the teams we play and have some fun. That's our goal."
At the recent Vic Juzenas tournament in Oakville, Cathedral advanced to the final before losing to Toronto St. Mike's. Granger-Bigford and Campbell were each selected to the tournament all-star team.
"Jaden can score in bunches but he's very efficient with his scoring," Fortino said. "He's got a great mid-range pull-up game and his 3's have developed a lot over the summer playing AAU for the Monarchs. He's a lot more fluid than in years past."
In other HWCDSB action, the Bishop Ryan Celtics topped the ACMT Jaguars, 68-43, the Bishop Tonnos Titans downed the St. Mary Crusaders, 59-43, and Brébeuf defeated the St. John Henry Newman Cardinals, 61-38.
Cathedral plays host on Dec. 6 and 7 to the 14th-annual Mark Walton Invitational tournament. Eight teams are entered -- St. John Henry Newman, Holy Trinity, Pickering, Welland Notre Dame, St. Thomas Aquinas, Kingston Frontenac, London Mother Teresa and the Gaels. The championship game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
Photos by Regards R.F. (Bob) Butrym, RFB Sport Photography
More photos on the HWCSDB Athletics Facebook page here
