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St. Ignatius captures Game 1 of regional boys basketball final

The St. Ignatius Falcons are a win away from a trip to provincials.
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St. Ignatius' Hunter Harris (15) looks to pass the ball off to teammate Joe Pelaia on Friday. The Falcons knocked off the Dryden Eagles in Game 1 of their regional boys basketball final.

The St. Ignatius Falcons are a win away from a trip to provincials.

Nick Soulias scored 20 point on Friday, including six three-pointers, winning the battle of the birds as the Falcons coasted to a 48-19 win over the visiting NORWASSA champion Dryden Eagles in the opener of their best-of-three  Northwestern Ontario Secondary School Athletics Association boys basketball championship.

Soulias hit four bombs in the opener quarter alone, pacing St. Ignatius to a 27-7 lead at halftime.

Curtis Chisholm added 11 for the Falcons, who can wrap up the championship on Saturday morning. Game 3, if necessary, goes in the afternoon.

The win was a relatively easy one, but Falcons coach Matt Erdman isn’t reading too much into it just yet.

“It was taking another step in the right direction that we need to go,” said Erdman, who spent a year as the interim coach of the Lakehead Thunderwolves, filling in for former coach Scott Morrison.

“Overall I think our guys played fairly well today and I was happy with their performance.”

It’s always good to win the opener in a short series, especially with home-court advantage, Erdman added.

But it’s tough against a team you haven’t seen all season long.

“We had a little bit of tape on them and we anticipated they were going to be tough, especially on the offensive glass,” Erdman said.

“Getting one win is good, but we’re still only halfway there.”

His goal on Saturday is to maintain the team’s intensity, despite the lopsided nature of the opener, that saw the two teams combine for just a single point in a field-goal-free fourth quarter, with reserves eating up most of the court time on both sides of the ball.

“We made some shots and they missed a bunch of easy ones early, so that could change tomorrow. We’ve just got to try to keep these guys on their toes and make sure they come out with the same kind of focus and resilience that they did today,” Erdman said.

The Eagles, plagued by too many turnovers, were led by Ted Benham’s nine points, while Kevin Woolfrey added four, both buckets coming in the third quarter.

St. Ignatius’ Joe Pelaia had the lone point of the fourth, hitting one of two free throws.

Tip off for Game 2 is 10:30 a.m. at St. Ignatius High School.

Game 3, if necessary, will start at 3 p.m.

The winner of the series will travel to Ottawa for next month’s provincial championship.



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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