Late Heroics Advance Parkside To Quarterfinal

Like other top seeds at the 'AA' OFSAA senior boys basketball tournament in Timmins, Parkside was pushed to the limit by a bottom seed - just going to show Panthers' coach Nick White was right when he said you can't look past any team towards the next game.

But Parkside pulled out a final minute victory over McGuigan, of Toronto, and advances to the quarterfinals tonight at 8 p.m.

Parkside, the number one seed, won by just three points - 50-47 - after building up a 12-point lead in the first quarter.

McGuigan pushed back. The 16th seed out of 18 teams lead Parkside by two points with 22 seconds to play in the fourth quarter. But Parkside intercepted an inbound pass, then drove to the hoop for two points and a foul to move ahead.

Parkside now faces the winner of this afternoon's meeting between George Harvey of Toronto and Nicholson of Belleville. The two potential opponents are seeded 8 and 9, respectively. But seeding doesn't mean everything.

Already, as Day two at the provincial championship heats up, St. Basil's (13th seed) of Sault Ste. Marie beat Forster (7th seed) of Windsor; and Forster topped fourth seed Perth. Timmins, one ofthe host schools, the eleventh seed beat the number two seed Westminster of London.

Andrew Cicuttini led Parkside with 30 points.