THUNDER BAY – The St. Ignatius Falcons are winning senior boys’ basketball titles at a rate that would even make Bill Russell proud.
Led by Ethan Willmore’s 26-point performance on Thursday night – 21 of them in the first half alone, the Falcons notched their sixth straight Superior Secondary Schools Athletic Association crown with a 78-45 win over a St. Patrick Saints team that hasn’t claimed a title since 1997.
Willmore was unstoppable in the first 20 minutes, scoring 10 in the opening quarter and pouring in 11 more in the second as St. Ignatius built an insurmountable 26-point lead at half and handed the Saints the lopsided loss.
“It feels amazing to win another one of these,” said the 17-year-old Willmore, who would like to continue playing basketball at the post-secondary level next season.
Willmore, who sat for much of the final quarter, the outcome already well in hand, said to see the program win six straight championships is pretty special, a rare feat at any level of the sport.
It’s the winning culture at St. Ignatius, he said.
“We have coaches and players who just buy in every year and we’re willing to put the work in – that’s our angle, we just want to win the championship.”
The Saints, who finished second at 6-4, gave the Falcons a bit of a challenge in the first quarter, cutting a 19-8 lead to 21-17 with a 7-0 run, A.J. Tshilombo scoring six of his team-high 25 points during the stretch to give St. Patrick hope against a team that ran the table during the regular season, finishing 10-0 atop the senior boys’ standings.
Unfortunately for the vocal pack of Saints fans at the Thunderdome, it was a close as they’d get the rest of the way.
The Falcons upped their lead to seven by quarter’s end, then outscored the Saints 23-4 in the second quarter to all but put the game away.
It was a product of hard work said Grade 10 guard Makeer Makeer.
“It was amazing, the amount of effort we put in every day at practice. Whatever we put in, we get out. It wasn’t our best performance today, but hopefully next time at NWOSSA we’ll be able to perform as well as we did during the season,” said Makeer, who wound up with 13 points on the night, third on the team behind Willmore and Sebastien Paradis, who collected 14.
The Falcons slowed a bit in the third, only outpacing the Saints 17-15, but came on strong in the fourth to seal the deal.
“It’s fantastic,” said coach Dino Buset. “We’ve got a really strong group of kids, that basketball is their prime sport and it’s fun to be around them.”
Buset said it might not have been as pretty a win as he’s seen, but the team did what it took to get the win.
“They always stick together, they always trust each other and I think that brings us a long way,” he said. “St . Pat’s, on the other side, they don’t have a strong group of primary basketball players, but every year they seem to get better and better as the season goes. So we were worried for sure,” Buset said.
Next up for the Falcons is a trip to the NWOSSA championship, which will be played next week on the road, likely in Fort Frances.
