The Lasalle Lancers (seniors) and St Benedict Bears (juniors) have started the SDSSAA Boys Basketball season on top.

Whether they finish there remains to be seen.

The local schools emerged as champions in their respective twelve team fields as the inaugural Cambrian Golden Shield Classic Basketball Tournament was hosted last weekend in Sudbury.

After edging the Thériault Flames from Timmins 62-58 in round robin play, the Lancers upped their game in the final, besting their northern rivals 55-44 behind a 20-point tournament MVP performance from veteran Sylas Asare-Corbière.

Tyrone Johnson chipped in with an even dozen for the winners, with Damien Quevillon adding nine while Reise Lapointe topped the scoring charts for Thériault with 14, with Peyton Daigle netting seven.

Given that regular season play began only this past week for the Lancers, the tournament was nothing if not an opportunity to learn for rookie head coach Darcey Shallow and company (while Shallow is in his first year with the Lancers, he arrived in Sudbury after spending almost 15 years coaching HS basketball, most recently in Milton).

"At our early season practices, we really focused a lot on the man to man offensive stuff," he said. "We didn't really focus a lot on zone defenses and, of course, we saw a ton of zone during the tournament."

"I found myself coaching a lot of zone offense during timeouts and half time to adjust."

Keenly aware of the basketball tradition that has long existed at Lasalle Secondary School, Shallow is sure to bring his own personal touch to the program which he inherited with a great deal of excitement this fall.

"These guys, by nature, are competitive - but I want them to have fun," stressed Shallow. "I like to try and put players in positions that they want to be in. I think that helps build team chemistry and ultimately helps make us successful."

Rounding out the Lasalle gold medal winning roster were Zidain Allen, Nathan Borieo, Derrick Idehen, Dash Kamal, Chad Tullio, Liam Velkovski, Logan Akkanen and Caleb Woods, along with assistant coach Kyle Preseau.

Unavailable for this tournament were Ashton Eadie-Chartrand and Ethan Lalonde (both at OFSAA volleyball), as well as Ethan McCandless.

In junior action, the Bears outgunned the Lo-Ellen Park Knights 78-49, clearly establishing themselves as the team to beat in the local loop, if not all of the north.

Sullivan Smith showed the way with 24 points while Bradley Cothill added 20 in earning junior tournament MVP honours. The Bears also received some healthy contributions from the likes of Dylan Nelson (13) and Keegan Adair (10), all part of a very deep roster.

That roster also features Holden Beange, Mateo Bedoya, Michael Folino, Matthew Gedye, Sam Julius, Chami Nyabeze, Ajani Rubic and Ethan Uloghobui, as well as head coach Ben Smith.