By Larry Moko
For the second time in less than a week the Cathedral Gaels have captured a major senior boys' high school basketball championship.
Cathedral completed an undefeated Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic season (17-0) with a 59-49 victory over the St. Thomas More Knights in the title game Wednesday.
That result comes on the heels of Cathedral's championship run last weekend at the 48th-annual All Ontario Catholic Classic in St. Catharines.
"The All Catholic is one of the premier tournaments in the province," Gaels coach Luca Fortino said. "All the best Catholic schools are there. It's a huge accomplishment for us."
In the final games of the two-day All Catholic, Cathedral topped St. Francis Phoenix of the host city, 73-36, before downing Windsor's Holy Names Knights -- recent Silver Fox tournament champs -- 60-57.
"To win that one and to win this game means a lot," Fortino added. "Hopefully, it can lead us to GHAC (upcoming Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference playoffs) and beyond."
The Gaels will face either Burlington's Notre Dame Fighting Irish or Oakville's Holy Trinity Titans in the first-round of GHAC playoffs next week.
The last time Cathedral took All Catholic honours was 2019.
Against More, Cathedral never trailed. The quarter scores were 18-8, 34-26 and 47-35.
"I don't think we played our best game," said Fortino, who last guided Cathedral to the city championship three years ago. (More) had a great game plan. They studied us pretty well and knew our plays."
The Knights (11-6) lost 87-38 and 78-42 to the Gaels during regular-season action.
"They kept this game close the entire time," Fortino said. "We're a strong team and they made it very tough. Hats off to them for the effort and the way they played."
Guard Josh Granger-Bigford paced the Gaels with a solid all-around performance which, offensively, included 28 points.
"Josh lives up to the big moment," the Cathedral coach said. "He plays so strong defensively and rebounding. He did it all for us. He handled the ball, got to the rim and assisted when he needed to assist. "Josh also helped us get the energy up when a lot of the players weren't giving it. He was everywhere."
Other top scorers for Cathedral were Wayne Bennett and Jaden Lubin with eight points apiece. Jaden Campbell added seven points and Daveh Rose had five.
More got 17 points from Noah McNiece and 12 from Thomas Connolly. Zion Stevens tossed in nine points and Nyzaiah Bernard contributed seven.
Knights coach Stef Giovannangeli said his team fought hard right to the end.
"Some things didn't fall for us and we didn't execute as well as we wanted," he said, "but it wasn't through lack of effort.
"I told my guys 'I don't demand a championship from you, but I demand a championship effort.' They delivered that. I'm really proud of them."
A Grade 12 student, Granger-Bigford said it felt good to win the 2025 city championship after being in a "drought" the past two years.
"The job's not finished yet," he said. "There's much work to do. We can still improve.
"We're playing unselfish. That's what I love about our team."
Other Cathedral players include Mike Decius, Michael Kajcsaracz, Sammy Wleh, Mekhi Bennett, Aaron Daly, Filipe Santos, Andrae Astwood, Mohamed Yusuf Mohamed and Juleyen Fafard-Butler.
Campbell was selected MVP of the All Catholic, while Granger-Bigford and Rose were named to the all-star team.
Said Giovannangeli: "Cathedral has a great team. They'll represent our league well."
Photos by R.F. (Bob) Butrym, RFB Sport Photography
More photos on the HWCDSB Athletics Facebook page
