By John DeCoste
The Horton Griffins were simply too much for their opponents at the Mainland Athletic Conference championship Feb. 10 and 11 in Greenwich.
The Griffins, who will host Park View Saturday for the Western Region championship and will also host provincials, won their second straight MAC title, capping a 4-0 weekend with an 85-54 victory over CEC.
According to head coach Bob McGill, the Griffins “jumped out to a big lead and played with a lot of energy.”
Horton led 19-9 after one quarter and 48-20 at halftime.
Conference MVP Lorenzo Parker led the way with 31 points despite sitting the entire fourth quarter. Bradley Fuller added 12 points as the rest of the scoring was pretty much spread around.
Horton opened against Park View and scored an easy 125-65 win. Adam Melanson, chosen a conference all-star, and Brett Dickie led the way with 22 points apiece. Bradley Fuller, Alex Thomas and Jamile Smith all finished with 14 points, Parker had 12 and Brandon Davis 10.
The Horton bench, which according to McGill, was “a major factor” in the championship, contributed 57 points of the Griffins’ total.
They “executed extremely well for extended periods of time” throughout the entire tournament, he said.
The fact Horton was able to rest its starters paid dividends in their second game later that day against North Nova.
“We needed our starters to play extended minutes,” he said, noting they responded scoring all but three of the team’s points in an 85-73 win.
Parker had 27 points, Fuller 20, Melanson 16 and Alex Thomas 10.
Marcus McLean had 18 points for North Nova, which “battled every possession and shot the ball extremely well. Every time we started to open it up, they would respond with a run of their own.”
Horton’s third and final round robin game was Saturday morning against Dr. J.H. Gillis. McGill had the luxury of resting his starters again as the Griffins piled up the points in a 104-45 win.
Dickie, who had an outstanding weekend off the bench, finished with 32 points, including five three-pointers. Parker with 13, Alex Thomas with 12, Jalen Talbot with 11 and Melanson with 10 also reached double figures.
In the final, the Griffins combined timely offence with stingy defence, holding CEC to just 20 points in the first half.
Melanson, Fuller and Keigan McGill “dominated the rebounding battle all weekend,” and Alex Thomas “had probably his best weekend of the year, shooting the ball well and making great decisions in transition,” McGill said.
