Gryphons give up lead in second half, lose OFSSA opener 73-60

LONDON — Coach Gillian Humphries wanted her Gravenhurst Gryphons to get off to a good start and an early lead in their first time on the floor here at the 2019 OFSSA high school hoops championships Monday morning.

The GHS Gryphons got off to a quick start and led at the half, but couldn’t match Villanova in the final two periods.

That would be key to beating Villanova College.

And her players responded, led by veteran Logan Fick who scored a team-high 33 total game points in the senior boys Division 1 game at the provincial championship.

After the first quarter, the Gryphons were up by one point, 14-13.

But it was a lead and that kept their coach relatively happy.

In the second quarter they pleased her more by upping their game even more, scoring 20 points.

And at the half they led 33-26.

But Villanova came out hot in the third quarter, outscoring GHS and its defence, 28-11, to turn around the game and take a 54-44 lead after three periods of back-and-forth play.

With a 10-point mountain to climb, the Gryphons responded with a better 16 points.

Enough to overcome the deficit, but not quite enough after Villanova replied with 19 points for a 73-60 victory.

The Gryphons next play #19 ES Lamothe-Cadillac, which lost the tournament’s opening game 55-25 to O’Gorman H.S.

All the games can be seen live streamed at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRUCMQ3nPeq9_hudBd3-D_g