St. Theresa of Lisieux Catholic High School junior boys' basketball team excels

YorkRegion.com | News
By: Mike Hayakawa

When Ryan Imgrund first held tryouts in October for his basketball team, he had an inkling the season held serious potential for success.

So far, his hunch has proven to be right on the mark.

The St. Theresa of Lisieux Catholic High School Lions junior boys’ team has been perfect so far, including registering a big comeback against Thornlea Wednesday afternoon.

Thornlea, which jumped out to a big lead on their home court, was overcome the rest of the way by a patient Lions’ attack that eked out a close win, 47-46.

“I knew back when we had tryouts this was going to be a special year,” Imgrund, who is in his third season in coaching the junior squad said.

“Of the 75 students who tried out for the team, almost 30 of them had at least some rep basketball experience. When you have a talent pool that deep, good things are going to happen.”

“If you can’t finish offensively, even the best defence isn’t going to keep you in the game.”

While having a good talent pool at his disposal has helped Imgrund create a competitive club, he said there are other factors that have helped as well.

First off, he said, the players he kept have a strong work ethic.

“We begin every two-hour practice with 25 minutes of shooting. If you can’t finish offensively, even the best defence isn’t going to keep you in the game.

The rest of the practice is then spent working on fundamentals and perfecting various zone defences and zone presses. Team building activities are also a big part of any of practices, he said.

 In order to be a highly competitive team, Imgrund believes they have to face teams of a similar calibre to see how they stack up.

In addition to playing their YRAA contests, Imgrund arranged several exhibition games prior to the start of the season and has entered his team in weekend tournaments against some of the top teams from outside of their league.

“I’m a firm believer that if you want to be the best, you’ve got to play the best.

“We started the season off by playing exhibition games against schools such as Father Henry Carr from Toronto and Mother Theresa from Scarborough.

“I’ve also made sure that we play in only the best tournaments in the province, tournaments such as the Rimrocker in Mississauga, which is like OFSAA for junior boys’ basketball, featuring the best 32 teams in Ontario,” he cited.

While Imgrund places an emphasis on team play, he was quick to note several players stand out. Among them is Grade 9 point guard Malik Cox, who is averaging 21 points per game and scored a school record 39 in a 95-62 win over Aurora’s Cardinal Carter Catholic High School.

Also making big contributions among the Grade 10 cast are: Spencer Redmond, Mitchell Eicher-Sodo, Christian Walsh and Jason Ng. Other first-year players who have excelled include Jordan Marlow and Charles Boampong.

Having come close to winning a regional title two years ago when they lost in the semifinals, Imgrund feels this year’s edition has the ingredients to reach the top.

“This is one of the deepest teams talent-wise that I’ve coached in years. They are determined, dedicated, and disciplined. They’ve got what it takes to be champions, especially if they continue playing team-oriented, unselfish basketball,” he said.