Slam dunk competition starts early in 2026 boys Captains-Veterans basketball evening

St. Mary’s Warrior and Team White MVP Josh Morgan put the ball down with authority during the junior Captains-Veterans game. (Jeff Tribe Photo)

Jeff Tribe, Echo Correspondent

The 2026 Captains-Veterans boys basketball game slam dunk contest started early.

“Wasn’t expecting to do that one,” admitted Team White and Woodstock St. Mary’s Warrior Josh Morgan, who threw one down with emphasis during the second half of a 91-65 loss to Team Purple in the junior contest. “Just off impulse and adrenaline.”

Morgan’s slam highlighted a White Team (St. Mary’s, Tillsonburg Glendale, Ingersoll DCI and Lord Dorchester) MVP performance featuring 16 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals. He was joined on the stats sheet by Warriors teammates Jessie Adeoye whose five three-point field goals fuelled a 17-point performance, Tristan Manalo with 10 and Atiki Wani, whose six points included a massive two-hander.

“It was a good feeling,” said Wani. “Hanging on the rim - boom!”

Wani would go on to win the official dunk contest held during halftime of the subsequent senior game.

Glendale’s Trevin Patrick added six points, James Strathearn five and Ingersoll’s Percy Gavin one field goal.

Western Ontario Secondary Schools Athletics Association AA gold medallist and Captains-Veterans MVP Lukas Mickevicius paced Team Purple’s (College Avenue, Woodstock CI, Woodstock Huron Park and Lord Dorchester) attack with 28 points, including a solid dunk. CASS Knights teammates Kameron Roos, Greyson Padfield and Easton Freeman added 24, 15 and 3 points, respectively. Huron Park’s Alro Minnaar and Nasir Hadari added four and two, Dorchester’s Tehg Randhawa four and WCI’s Huntter Grass, Jude Buchner and Jack Litchy three apiece.

“Fun chance to meet new people, build chemistry, a bond,” Hadari summed up.

Woodstock Huron Park Huskie Jance Jorgensen took a diversified route to team Purple senior MVP honours, knocking down a late corner three to round a 22-point performance, unguarded perhaps due to the fact his team was on the ‘power play’, having six players on the court to Team White’s five at the time.

“We just felt like we needed it at that point,” he smiled. “Had to hit that one.”

The three was part of a spirited Team Purple (Huron Park, WCI, IDCI and CASS) fourth-quarter comeback, which ultimately fell short, Team White (St. Mary’s, Lord Dorchester and Glendale) prevailing by a 93-81 margin. Jorgensen had an unofficial three-plus-two dunks in the game. Three were fully legit, two on the borderline of elevated power layups, an assessment Jorgensen was willing to accept.

“I like to really flush it to count.”

Huron Park teammate Bakhtawar Sidhu had 14, including several lay-ins during team Purple’s late run, while WCI’s Diangelo Sanfilippo had 13 and Red Devils teammates Nick Hagen-Johnson, Preston Hilderley and Kael Wettlaufer had seven, three and two, respectively. CASS Knight Devon Fordham contributed six points as did IDCI’s Trestyn Veldman, while fellow Blue Bomber Zack Paton went 0-4 from the three-point line, 0-2 from midrange but 2-3 from inside the paint for four points.

“Only focus on that one - that’s the one that matters,” laughed Paton, who, while closing out high school basketball on the evening, is looking forward to extending his football career this fall with the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks.

“Back at the bottom,” said Paton, a dominant lineman for the TVRA champion Blue Bombers. “I’m happy I’ve got to work my way back up.”

Lord Dorchester’s Mason Faulkner earned MVP honours for Team White, pacing the attack with 25 points. St. Mary’s Warrior Kymani Small added 19, including a trio of three-point field goals, Dorchester’s Kalen Greenfield 13, and Glendale Gemini Jason Mogg 12, Sean Krahn 10 and Kayden Pittao seven. CASS Knight Kalen Krupp added two field goals to the winning total.

“Fun and very exciting,” Krupp said. “Good competition too.”

Before the senior game, Oxford Basketball Officials Association President Nino DeLuca and Vice-President Paul Cowan presented the annual Bill Gillespie Memorial Award for service to the sport in Oxford to Glendale’s Terry Coulthard. A College Avenue graduate who went on to play with the Waterloo Warriors before a career in education, Coulthard subsequently retired to Tillsonburg. Responding to need within the school, she coaches both junior and senior teams for both the boys and girls programs.

Honoured and humbled to accept the award, Coulthard spoke to the extra meaning it represents due to the fact she knew, admired and respected its namesake.

“Bill led by example and touched many lives.”

She thanked Glendale staff members Kiersten Sanderson and Kait Buchner for their invaluable support.

“And they willingly subject themselves to my running commentary every game,” Coulthard smiled.

Her approach is to back up player development in the game’s X’s and O’s with the intangibles of sport, commitment, sportsmanship, respect, accountability and teamwork.

“The we over me.”

Coulthard emphasized how coaching is a two-way street; she is learning from the players while thoroughly enjoying a courtside seat to their broad-based development.

“It’s the relationships that drive me, and I truly value,” Coulthard concluded.

Proceeds from the event go to the Terry Fox Foundation in Gillespie’s honour as the founder of the Captains-Veterans evening.