Stamps play determined ball

   Parkside edges Central Elgin, 48-45

By Rob J. Ross

Monday, January 15, 2018

 ST. THOMAS - This now sets up a match between the undefeated teams.

The Parkside Stampeders grabbed a lead early, maintained the advantage for most of the game, on their way to defeating the Central Elgin Titans on their home court, 48-43, in Thames Valley Regional Association (TVRA) South Division senior boys' basketball.

Parkside improves to 3-0 and will meet the East Elgin Eagles, owners of the same record, Tuesday in Aylmer. (Parkside moved to 4-0, handing East Elgin a 43-30 loss.)

"Our offensive movement was fairly decent. Defensively, we did a good job on their big guy," Parkside coach Gerald Hikele said. "We played gritty and had determination to want it. The guys really want it this year."

The aim of the Stampeders is to finish atop the South Division and advance to WOSSAA, but Hikele knows the challenge.

"We have our work cut out, but I believe we have the horses to do some damage," the Stamps' bench boss said. "Our veterans (Nick Sturk, Taylor Robertson, Drew Foster, Neal Bennett) are really stepping up. They're taking over and helping develop the young guys. They're the backbone of the team."

The Stampeders got a boost of confidence during the TVRA pre-season, beating Tillsonburg Glendale, who played at the OFSAA AA tournament last year.

"We've been doing pretty good limiting turnovers," added Hikele. "When the guys get out there, they are determined."

For the youthful Titans, the game was a solid stepping stone.

"We have some things to work on. We're a young team and inexperience hurt us a bit tonight," Titans' coach Ryan Shaw said. "We stuck with our game plan. We wanted to take (Stampeder) Nick Sturk out best we could. We did that effectively for the most part, but they had other guys step up and that hurt us. Parkside wanted it more and were a bit more hungry than we were."

The Titans, sitting at 2-2, will continue to gain valuable playing time with two more regular season games this week and a tournament at St. Joseph's high school.

"I want to see the guys find their footing, get up to game speed and find that intensity the coaching staff expects of them. If we do that, I think we'll be fine," said Shaw. "I want to see the boys come out better as a team and gel."

Taylor Robertson led the Stampeders, with 15 points, while Sturk had 11.

Landon Johnstone had 15 points for the Titans.

The two teams meets again this week, on Thursday, at Parkside.
 

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