Holy Heart Highlanders of St. John’s made it a clean sweep of the seventh annual Keith Keating Memorial high school basketball tournament, winning both the boys and girls’ Tier I titles over the weekend in St. John’s.
The Highlanders trimmed O’Donel Patriots of Mount Pearl 83-67 for the male Tier I championship, while Holy Heart got by Waterford Valley High of St. John’s 63-61 for the female Tier I crown.
The Keating tournament, one of the highlights on the yearly high school basketball schedule, featured 36 teams in five divisions — male Tier I, II and III, along with female Tier I and II — playing in five different gyms in St. John’s and Mount Pearl.
Elwood Lakers of Deer Lake won the male Tier II championship (63-33 over St. Bon’s) and Holy Trinity Tigers ‘B’ squad won the male Tier III crown (71-67 over Baltimore High of Ferryland).
The female Tier II championship went to Mobile, who beat NKD 61-54.
The tournament is named after Keith Keating, who was well known in the basketball community for his commitment to the Mount Pearl house and club programs, St. Peter’s Junior High program, O’Donel High School program and the Newfoundland and Labrador Basketball Association’s provincial team program.
He passed away on 2013.
The 2019 Keating tournament raised $24,000, breaking the previous tournament donation record. The majority of the $24,000 will go to the new Chemotherapy Centre being built in St. John’s, with a smaller portion to Camp Delight for children battling cancer.
This year’s $24,000 brings the total amount raised from the tournament to $134,000. Tournament organizer Adam Keating, Keith’s son, pledges to donate $40,000 for the next two years to the new chemo centre. This will make the tournament one of the largest donors in the centre’s $6.5 million campaign.
Tournament MVPs were Josh Reimer of Holy Heart (Tier I), Gavin Curtis of Elwood (Tier II), Ethan Keane of Holy Trinity B (Tier III), Laura Quigley of Holy Heart (Tier I) and Justina Nawaz of Mobile (Tier II).
Other special awards presented were:
Logan Mullins Sportsmanship Award, which went to Jacob Manning, a long-time tournament volunteer who takes over 30,000 pictures a year, free of charge.
Carl George Perseverance Award, which went to Elwood coach Jim Feltham, who has 48 years of coaching experience and talent development on the west coast.
Ruby Tobin Hardest Worker Award, which went to Travis Legge of O'Donel A.
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