County Clippers ends season with gold medal tourney win

The County Clippers U14 boys team were golden this past weekend in Hamilton at the Blessed Sacrament Tournament.

“We won all five games en route to the championship and defeated Milton 48-37 in the final,” said coach Rob Garden. “Overall, our defence kept all opponents under 40 points which speaks very highly about our focus all season.  We also played every player every game this weekend which wasn’t the norm for most teams, but it was important for us that guys got minutes.”

Brodie Byford and Jack MacCool were named tournament co-most valuable players.

Garden notes that as the season ends, the County Clippers organization is proud of its “firsts” accomplished this year.

“This was the first time that we had a girls team.  It was the first time our U12 boys went to an overnight tournament in Markham. It was the first tournament championship, the first time a team played more than 20 games (22 total),  and the first time a team finished above .500, with a 14-8 record on the season for the U14 boys.”

The Clippers will celebrate at a year-end banquet April 22 at the golf course.

Game wraps by Coach Garden:

Game 1: 40-32 over Lindsay
This was the third meeting of the season vs. Lindsay and it was the rubber match.  After a long drive and a late 8:15pm tip, it took the boys some time to find their offensive game.  Fortunately, their defence kept the game close until the the second half where they jumped out to a 10 point lead in the early stages of the 3rd quarter and they never looked back.  Joe Burley had 12 and Brodie Byford had 11.

Game 2: 39-21 over Orillia
An early morning game and the boys had another slow start, only scoring 6 points in the first quarter.  However, once they woke up they took over and built a 19 – 11 lead at half.  The boys had a great 3rd quarter and it was too much for Orillia to overcome.  Thomas Davies his a big 3 pointer late in the 4th quarter to seal the win.  Byford with 12 points and Jack MacCool had 6.

Game 3: 50-29 over Huntsville
This was the second time that the boys had faced Huntsville this season and they beat us by 20 in the first match-up.  Once again, we had a slow start and found ourselves down 19 – 18 at half time.  However, after a few adjustments at half the boys came out with a renewed sense of purpose and blitzed Huntsville 17 – 6 in the 3rd quarter.  They increased the defensive intensity in the 4th and only allowed the Hurricanes to score 4 points in the quarter.  MacCool and Byford both scored 15 points, while Dylan Morrow had 8 and Devon Wilton chipped in with 6.  With the win, the boys captured first place in their pool.

Game 4: 46-33 over Port Colborne
In the semi-final game, the boys crossed over to play the 2nd seeded team from Port Colborne.  For some reason, we didn’t start well again missing our first 12 shots.  However, our defence kept us in the game until we could get some easy buckets in the 2nd quarter.  We started to move the ball better on offence and more guys started to score.  Byford had 10, MacCool had 8, Ian Forsyth had 8, and Burley chipped in with 6.

Game 5: 48 – 37 over Milton
The message in the championship game was simple.  The boys had earned the right to be here and they just needed to rely on their teammates and do what they’ve been doing all year.  Milton had 1 very good player and we had a focus to shut him down.  Jack MacCool and Dylan Morrow were given the defensive assignment and they both did a great job keeping him under control.  We struggled to score early again, but once we got rid of the nerves we took over the game.  Brodie Byford had his most dominant performance of the tournament scoring 15 points and he was a defensive presence under the basket.  Jack MacCool controlled the game from the point guard position and Joe Burley was huge on the boards.