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Sports
All-star weekend benefits fund
By Mark Lidbetter, The Suburban
Photo by Rob Taussig, The Suburban
The East's Jonathan Wong puts the ball up and over a trio of West defenders.
The East's Alex Tarakjian races down the court with the West's Marshall Lobo in close pursuit.
For the seventh time, the West Island Lakers Basketball Association’s
all-star weekend was about more than just the house league players
showcasing their skills.
It
was about the efforts of the organization’s players, coaches,
executives and volunteers to raise money for the Sian Bradwell fund.
Through
raffles, product sales and the generosity of community-minded sponsors,
the Lakers are hoping to make a $10,000 donation to benefit the
oncology department of the Montreal Children’s Hospital.
The
fans were treated to some wide-open basketball on the hardwood of
Pointe Claire’s John Rennie High School and the mini-boys match was a
perfect example of parity as the East and West all-stars played to a
45-45 tie with the West pulling out a come-from behind effort to tie up
the game.
Trailing by eight points
heading into the final five minutes of play, the West turned up the
volume to wipe out the deficit and pull ahead 45-43 on Robert Drury’s
basket with a minute remaining. It took clutch shooting from the foul
line by Isaac Netto, dropping in two free throws to tie the score at
45-all with 44 seconds to go.
Ali Saeed led the East attack with a 12-point performance while Marshall Lobo also tallied a dozen points for the West.
“These
two teams were really even,” Lobo said. “It was different and fun, too,
because we don’t usually play the entire court, we play from side to
side so it really opened up play.”
Closing
out the day was the annual match between the CJAD and Friends squad
against the Montreal Alouettes with an eye on entertaining and
fundraising.
There was an auction
for a spot on the Alouettes team, a chance to play with the likes of
Anthony Calvillo, Anwar Stewart, Luke Fritz and Brian Chiu. As bidding
climbed, boxer Otis Grant, who was to play with CJAD, upped the ante
saying that the Otis Grant Fund would match dollar for dollar any bids
made over the $400 mark.
Marcus
Tabachnick, chairman of the Lester B Pearson School Board chimed in
with the LBPSB matching the winning bid as well. That meant the winning
bid of $550 ballooned to $1,650 for the fund.
Rick
Moffat, CJAD sports director also announced that every point scored by
either side would see the CJAD Kids’ Fund donate $10 per point scored.
Alouettes’
centre Brian Chiu has taken part in several of these games but this
year looked at it in a different light since he is now the proud father
of three-and-a-half-month-old Teegan.
“We
always looked at taking part in this event as being important,” Chiu
said. “But now as a parent, I can appreciate so much more all the
effort that goes into organizing this weekend to add to the fund and
the help that the Sian Bradwell Fund gives to parents with sick
children.”
