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Titans Back-Back Champs: Kanza leads way

Published by Gilbert Muako on March 3, 2010

Over the 09-10 season, The Mother Teresa Titans have been one of the most over looked teams in Ontario, as a result of them losing most of their star power through the prep route.

As the playoffs takes place in most part of the country, the Titans have taken advantage of being the underdogs, upsetting top notch teams on their way to an appearance in the TDCAA (Toronto District College Athletic Association) Championship verses Pope John Paul II. This past weekend they showed a solid crowd at Ryerson University how strong they can be.

“Too often in our city, in our province and our country we focus on results too early and we don’t focus enough on teaching the game on skill development, on teaching defensive principles, on kids how to be mentally tough and deal with things. We’ve really tried at Mother Teresa to focus on developing skills, developing players, developing kids who can handle pressure and really start to worry about result when as we get into January and February as oppose to November and December” explained Mother Teresa Head Coach Richard Gallacher.

Titans win back-back TDCAA championship

It was evident the Titans came into the finals focused, determined and with something to prove. The game seem lopsided from the beginning as the Titans jumped all over a young Pope John Paul team with a 19-6 lead by the first quarter end.

The second quarter resembled the first, as Mother Teresa continued their tough pressure defense and contained 6-foot-2 Guard Hassan Abdullahi who was Pope’s biggest threat on the offense. By half time the Titans held a 20 point lead with the score 34- 14.

Putting a poor first half behind them, Pope came out in the third quarter with much more energy and confidence. Lead by Abdullahi, the Panthers were able to cut the 20 point lead to 12 ending the quarter 46-34 in the Titans favor.

“In the Third quarter we let them back in the game, we kind of slacked off and gave Hassan some easy looks but as soon as we locked it down again in the fourth we were fine,” Richard Gallacher speaking on the second half action.

The most exciting basketball was displayed in the fourth quarter as both teams traded baskets which lead to Mother Teresa winning 71 – 55 and capturing back-back TDCAA championships. Stevie Squires lead the Titans with 14 points, while Ancil Martin added 11points for the Panther. Hassan Abdullahi had game high 26 points and Shaq Chan-Singh scored 11 points.

The key to the victory for the Titans was the strength of improved 6-foot-1 point guard Richie Kanza, who had a well balanced game. He was very effective running the point and made things much easier for his team.

“I just made sure all my teammates got involved in the game. It’s important for me as the point guard to make sure that we don’t get out of control and we run our offense to get good looks. There’s always an under dog, we just did what we had to do to get the win,” says Kanza.

Notes

-Ancil Martin of Mother Teresa had the highlight of the game, attacking base line and throwing down an impressive reverse jam.

- 6-foot-1 Guard Stevie Squire of Mother Teresa did a good job being aggressive early; he frequently attacked and finished around the basket.

- Mother Teresa had great production from the bench with 24pts compared to Pope John Paul’s 7

- Mother Teresa had five players scoring in double digits.

- Both team qualify for “AAAA” OFSAA in Oshawa, ON

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