Sydenham seniors engage in fierce battle against Falcons

Feb 11, 2015

On February 10 both the Sydenham High School's and the Frontenac Secondary School's senior boys' basketball teams went in undefeated into an exciting game that unfolded on the courts at Sydenham, where the Sydenham senior boys showed what it takes to remain undefeated.

In what was their season's final home game, the Sydenham seniors faced off against the Frontenac Falcons.

Sydenham came on strong early on and by the end of the first quarter the Golden Eagles were up by 10. Sydenham continued to pour it on in the second quarter and their aggressive play put them ahead by 20, with their win seeming imminent as their plan to play aggressively and to attack the basket paid off big time, garnering a 20-point lead that put the score at 35-15 for Sydenham at the half.

"The plan was to use our size and length to exploit and match up against the Falcons”, Sydenham's head coach, Shaun Kennedy said following the game.

That plan panned out but in the third quarter the Falcons fought back hard. Sydenham seemed a bit fatigued, and their complacency made for a quick come back for the Falcons, who battled back and in an eight-point run that had the Eagles licking their wings by the end of the third, they cut Sydenham's 20-point lead to 12.

“The Falcons definitely smothered us in the third,” Coach Kennedy said, “and we definitely started making some desperate plays. The Falcons managed to take away our think time and they chiseled the score down to where we had to rethink a bit about our patience.”

In the fourth Sydenham battled through and stilled the Falcons' comeback down, with Sydenham winning in a final score of 51-41.

Following the game Kennedy said it was “a heavyweight match up that has been brewing all season”.

The Sydenham seniors will face off against QECVI in their last game of the regular season and Coach Kennedy said that his team will now have a guaranteed spot in the playoffs (likely in first). Coach Kennedy is hoping his team goes on to play in the KASSAA finals.