Athletics - Cegep Vanier College

By Denis Lafontaine

BASKETBALL NEWS
AAA MEN NUMBER ONE IN THE COUNTRY!!
CAP CINDERELLA STORY BY DEFEATING LETHBRIDGE 102-85 IN FINALS
March 20, 2011

Our AAA Men's Basketball Cheetahs overcame the odds against them and pulled out an incredible upset National title at the CCAA Nationals Championships which were played at Durham College in Oshawa, Ontario from March 16-19.

In the finals, played on Saturday evening, the Cheetahs were losing 48-41 at the end of the first half, but they fought back and kept things close through the rest of the game. They then pulled out all the stops in the 4th quarter and emerged with a solid 102-85 victory. It was only the second time the team had played in the national finals. Their first time was a victory 24 years ago over Dawson in 1987, and consequently they are now officially 2 for 2 in the finals!

Click for a larger photo of Jerome Blake

Jerome Blake, 32 points

Jerome Blake (left), the star of the Provincial Finals and Player of the Game for the Cheetahs in the National semi-finals on Friday, AGAIN held the hot hand for the Cheetahs. Jerome scored a huge 32 points and was named Tournament MVP. Lenny Austin (right) had a great game as well, scoring a monster 24 points.

Also hitting double figures were Seth Amoah with 16 and Ben Millaud, the Player of the Game in the quarter-finals, who added 11 points in this huge, clutch victory.

The Cheetahs were underdogs throughout the tournament and were not expected to get past the quarter-finals due to the fact they were generally younger and shorter than their opponents and the fact that we had 7 rookies on the team.

Lenny Austin, 24 points

These factors, however, didn't appear to bother the team or their excellent coaching staff, led by their stalwart and longtime Head Coach Andy Hertzog.

"Only to the rest of the world (were we underdogs)," said Coach Hertzog, "We were the youngest team there, probably the smallest team there. It's always a challenge in the CCAA when you play at nationals because we're a different animal than the rest of the country and our kids, many of whom are 18 or 19 years old, are often playing against 25-year-old men who are in their third, fourth or fifth year in a community college after graduating from Grade 12. "It's a challenge, but you know that going in."

The entire team must find this incredible championship victory tremendously gratifying, as do we all! Congratulations to each and every one of you. Vanier is indeed very proud!

Read Coach Hertzog's heartfelt description of his and the team's experience at the Nationals.