By Larry Moko
Bishop Ryan senior boys' coach Mike Diclaudio says his Celtics are playing their best basketball of the season.
And the timing couldn't be better.
Bishop Ryan defeated the visiting St. Mary Crusaders, 63-52, in one of four Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic high school quarter-final playoff games Monday.
Elsewhere, the Cathedral Gaels downed the ACMT Jaguars, 78-49, the St. Jean de Brébeuf Braves topped the St. John Henry Newman Cardinals, 58-50, and the Bishop Tonnos Titans edged St. Thomas More's Knights, 68-64.
That sets up semifinals on Wednesday, Feb. 11 matching first-place Cathedral versus Tonnos and second-place Brebeuf against Bishop Ryan.
"We're playing very good defence right now," Diclaudio said.
"We're making the other team work for their baskets. We're causing turnovers and shot clock violations. And from that defence comes points."
The sixth-place Crusaders (6-8) jumped out to a 22-13 first-quarter lead against the fourth-place Celtics who, along with Tonnos and More, tied in the standings with 7-7 records.
"We wore them (Crusaders) out in the second half," Diclaudio said.
Bishop Ryan finally pulled into a tie with the Crusaders mid way through the third quarter when 6-foot-4 forward Kai Olak stole the ball near centre court and capped the play with an emphatic dunk.
Olak tossed in a game-high 23 points.
Guards Adam Adili and Antonio Salina chipped in with 14 and nine points, respectively, for BR.
Senior guard Isiah Johnson scored 15 of St. Mary's points before fouling out with about three minutes remaining.
Frank Nabutete added 13 points and Ryan Harrington had 11.
Said Diclaudio: "Our zone defence needs a bit of work but our man-to-man on the ball defence applies a lot of pressure. I'm very proud of that."
According to Diclaudio, "massively improved" shooting from the charity stripe helped BR to the win.
"We had some important free throws down the stretch," he said. "And we took care of the basketball for the most part."
Olak forms part of BR's lanky starting front-court along with Prince Mudenge and Sean Okafor.
"Kai bearly comes off the floor," Diclaudio said. "He's our best rebounder and an absolute workhorse.
"From the rebounds come the putbacks."
Olak's long arms and wingspan make it difficult for opponents to shoot over top of him or, if they try to, go by him.
"We started off a little slow in this game but we pulled it off at the end," said Olak, who also plays for the Dundas Dynamo and the Hamilton Elite organizations.
"I feel we can do some damage and go far if we play really hard and use our strengths."
During the regular schedule the Celtics and Crusaders split a pair of games against each other.
St. Mary will return to action Monday, March 2 for the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference AA final. That game will be at St. Mary.
"It's a Cinderella story," coach Stephanie Demerjian said of the 2025-26 Crusaders. "Everybody thought we'd finish at the bottom of the table. Last year we had three wins and this year we had six. Using underestimation as a fuel has really been working for us.
"We played King's Christian (at GHAC a year ago) and we lost by 10. I'm not sure about who we'll be playing but I know our guys are much stronger this year."
Junior basketball quarter-final results were: Cathedral 62 St. Mary 32; Bishop Ryan 72 St. Thomas More 66; Newman 72 Brebeuf 45. First-place Bishop Tonnos had an opening-round bye.
Newman will take on Tonnos and Bishop Ryan faces Cathedral in Wednesday's semifinals.
Photos by Richard Andoga
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