(Jayce Johnson splits the Aquinas defense during the Tom Keenan Memorial Tournament at Canisius)
For a fifth straight season, Canisius has opened its season with a pair of victories. The Crusaders followed a 67-61 victory over Cheektowaga on Friday afternoon with a 43-38 win over Aquinas on Saturday, to claim a fifth straight Tom Keenan Memorial Tournament Championship. The tournament final featured a pair of defending state champions. Aquinas won the 2016 NYSPHAA state crown in Class AA, while Canisius won a second straight CHSAA state title last season. The Crusaders took a pair of meetings last season over the Lil Irish, including a victory in last season's tournament championship game as well.
With a whole new lineup of starters, it was the same old result on Delaware Avenue. The Crusaders rolled out five juniors in their starting lineup on Saturday, while Aquinas had just one starter back in its lineup from last season's title run. The lone Aquinas starter, Jalen Pickett, was name Most Valuable Player following his game-high 23 points in the loss. Pickett also added eight rebounds, three blocks, three steals, and three assists on the day.
"Right now, I don't know what to expect game in and game out," Canisius coach Kyle Husband said. "Early on like this with a lot of new faces, to be able to pull out a victory against a really good team like that - certainly we'll take that."
The championship game was a defensive affair throughout and neither team shot the ball well. The Crusaders made 15 of 51 attempts from the field and connected just three of their 15 attempts from long range. Aquinas faired no better, taking six more shots than Canisius, while also hitting on just 15 shots. Canisius held a slight edge on the boards, 42-36, which helped compensate for 15 turnovers.
Canisius built its largest lead of the game in the fourth quarter when they went up by eight, but the Lil Irish managed to cut the deficit to three points on a Pickett 3-pointer in the closing seconds, before the Crusaders sealed the game from the charity stripe.
Jayce Johnson led victors in scoring with 12 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Brendan Trapper & Nick MacDonald each netted 10 points, with Trapper also grabbing eight rebounds.
Cheektowaga defeated Nazareth in the consolation game, 51-48. Vaughn Burdette led the Warriors with 18 points in the win and Dom Welch added 17 points. In the first round, Welch scored a season-high 40 points against the Crusaders, but his team's comeback attempt fell short after digging a big hole in the first half. Welch, who is chasing the all-time WNY scoring record held by former Burgard star Ritchie Campbell (2,355), finished with 57 points in the two games over the weekend to push his career total to 1,794.
-centercourt
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