The St. Ignatius Falcons are heading to provincials.
The senior varsity boys basketball squad raced out to a 23-2 lead Saturday morning and cruised to a 61-18 home-court win over the Dryden Eagles to sweep the NWOSSA final two games to none.
Nick Soulias scored 19 first-half points, added a three-pointer in the third quarter and watched from the sidelines as the Falcons reserves mopped up the decisive win.
“It feels really good, especially because we played so well as a team,” Soulias said. “The starting unit played really well coming out of the gate. The second unit came in and at first they were struggling a bit, but they started hitting shots.”
Getting out to the fast star was the plan all along, Soulias added.
“We know they have a couple of shooters on their team, so what we were trying to do was apply a lot of ball pressure. They have a few big guys we were trying to crash the boards on and our bigs did a good job of that,” Soulias said.
“We did everything well.”
Thomas Walser, who helped lead the Falcons senior football squad to provincials last fall, said a second title was icing on the cake.
“It’s a great feeling, especially with the team effort we put out there today. The bench came up big and got lots of playing time. We got off to a fast start. It’s awesome to see those guys do so well. They work so hard and have been resilient all season,” said Walser, who finished with four points.
The Falcons were unstoppable in the first quarter, taking an early 11-2 lead before they even found their groove from beyond the arc.
That changed in a hurry, Soulias draining three and Trevor Luby a fourth, giving St. Ignatius more than enough points to seal the victory.
The Eagles tried to mount a comeback in the second, with Falcons coach Matt Erdman resting his starters, but couldn’t close the gap and trailed 34-13 at the half.
Erdman gave his starters a few more minutes to start the third, but let his bench finish out the contest. The reserves, who only managed one point in the fourth quarter in Friday’s opening win, responded with a 15-1 run, including a three-pointer by Hunter Harris and a pair of buckets from A.J. Bylund.
“I was happy with everyone’s effort,” Erdman said. “Even the guys who came off the bench today played really well today. They were intense. They had a goal, they stuck to it and they did a good job competing all game.”
Jed Benham had six points to lead Dryden, while Bruce Anderson collected four.
Next up for the Falcons is a trip to the nation’s capital for the Ontario Federations of School Athletics Association AA boys basketball championship, scheduled to begin on March 9.
