Trojans Reclaim NDA B-Ball Crown

The West Ferris Trojans pose with their NDA Championship Trophy and Banner.

The West Ferris Trojans reclaimed the NDA Senior Boys Championship on home court Monday night, beating the Chippewa Raiders 56-53 and sweeping the best of three final.

The title is the second in the last three seasons for the Trojans who were bounced in last year's semi-finals; it is also the team’s tenth banner in the last 11 years. For the Raider it is a second straight year of heartbreak as they also fell in last year's final to the Widdifield Wildcats.

“When we lost last year it was pretty hard, so it was good to end (my career) like this, it’s really awesome,” said Trojan’s center Cole Addley who is the only player on the roster that is not returning for next season.

The game was tight the entire way as Chippewa held an 11-10 lead after the first quarter and a 28-26 lead at the half. In the third quarter, West Ferris re-took the lead 45-42, setting the stage for a great finish.

In the final quarter the game came down to foul shooting as the Trojans went 8 for 8 from the charity stripe and were solid defensively holding Chippewa’s star guard Shawn Humphrey to just 2 points in the quarter.

“We did a really good job guarding Shawn,” said the Trojan’s Sam Levac who led all scorers on the night with 20 points. “He is a very good player so we had to be strong on him.”

With 22 seconds left in the game and the score 54-51 in favour of the Trojans, the Raiders came extremely close to tying the contest. Chippewa Center Matt Nolan was fouled on a layup attempt and had the ball roll just off the rim and out. Had the bucket gone in it would have given Nolan the chance to tie the game from the foul line.

Nolan subsequently missed both free throws and that forced the Raiders were forced to foul Trojan guard Brady Facette, who hit his 1 and 1 to put the game out of reach. Humphrey then scored his only 2 points of the quarter, potting a layup just before the buzzer sounded to finish off the scoring.

At the final horn, the Trojan student body flooded the court in a frenzy engulfing their team. The gymnasium on Marshall Park Drive was packed as a strong contingent from both schools cheered back and fourth all night.

“We play in a lot of tournaments down south and we play a lot of good teams,” said West Ferris head coach Larry Tougas of his squad’s clutch play on Monday night. “If you don’t learn how to be patient you are going to get blitzed, so we know how to play under some pressure,” added the long-time hoops coach.

During the traditional post game net cutting, West Ferris hockey and football Coach Rick Mitchell pulled Levac aside and asked if he was getting used to the feeling of winning yet. Levac transferred over from Northern Secondary School this fall and was elated to have 2 NDA banners in as many attempts as a member of the Trojans having been a member of the championship football team this fall.

“It feel’s great,” said Levac. “I’ll be back next year and hopefully defend our titles,” added the speedy guard.

Davin Reid led the Raiders in scoring with 14 points while Humphrey chipped in with 11. Facette had 12 points for the Trojans, 7 of which came in the final quarter on a big three pointer and four solid foul shots.