Under the florescent lights of Eastern Commerce Collegiate’s gym, a familiar scene, a basketball game, is on display. For now.

The Eastern Saints boys’ basketball team is in the midst of a playoff run. They storm down the court on a fast break, outfoxing a pesky Leaside High School with quick passing and good jumpers.

Photos of past stars like Jamaal Magloire who went on to be an NBA all-star adorn the walls.

Championship banners hang in the rafters. Students, teachers and scouts alike watch intently from the upstairs gallery.

In pursuit of their first provincial title since 2009, their sixth since 2002, Eastern’s run is nothing new. Located just south of the Danforth, they have produced exemplary student athletes for decades, using basketball to educate young men across the city.

But this playoff run will be their last, and this Feb. 10 post-season game their last at home. This year, 62 students attend the school — half of last year’s total. Without a Grade 9 class for two years, and enrolment numbers dwindling, the school decided last June to end the program.

“There hasn’t been a Grade 9 program, or even a Grade 10 program at the school,” said Nigel Tan, who heads Eastern’s phys-ed department.

According to school board documents, Eastern Commerce has the lowest utilization rate of any TDSB school, at less than seven per cent. Tan said that academic programming will cease after this school year. The onsite Subway Academy alternative school, a daycare and the Toronto District School Board Heritage Archives will remain open, but Eastern will not.

Eastern has been added to the TDSB’s list of high schools under review, which will take place later this spring.

Rumours of closure have loomed for several years, and without Grade 9s and 10s to sustain the team, they maintained the current program to accommodate senior players.

“The writing was on the wall,” said Tan. “(The players) knew they were going to have to finish their four, five years as part of the program and the guys who came in later, in Grade 10 and 11, those were pieces that were added on later so they weren’t considered to be somebody we would be staying open for.”

On the court, the current roster has a short rotation going into games. Players with less experience also were expected to pick up the slack.

Off the court, funding has been rolled back but hasn’t disappeared. Through the Holiday Classic — a tournament they host every December — attendance and registration brought in about $2,500. With that money, they registered in five invitational tournaments across the GTA — which puts them in direct competition with the best teams in the province and prepares them for OFSAA.

Despite the adversity, the squad won three invitational titles this year — including the Holiday Classic and tournaments hosted by Mother Teresa catholic school and Vaughan Secondary, venerable hoops powerhouses.

“What we’re working with, these guys have earned everything they’ve gotten this year,” said coach Kevin Jeffers.

It is a daunting task to ask young athletes to block out the noise of this news, but Jeffers, who leaves the program after a 14-year stint, is using it as leverage. It’s not an excuse to give up.

“We don’t care about fair. It’s our situation. We got to play the hand that was dealt to us,” said Jeffers. “We’re not looking for a pity party, for anybody to say, ‘Hey, you guys only have seven guys at practice.’ No, no. We want your best shot. We want everybody to come out and fight.”

The program has been fighting proud since before the school’s biggest star, Magloire, headed to Kentucky.

In 1974, former principal Lou Sialtsis made it his mission to bring high performance basketball to a school of 1,300 with 100 boys. After winning their first city title in 1976, the program hasn’t looked back.

“Once we had a little bit of success, it snowballed,” said Sialtsis, who left Eastern in 2002.

They were one of the first Canadian schools to impress against American competition. In 1982, they lost badly to Riverside Church, a New York-based AAU team that featured NBA alums Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson and Olden Polynice. But Eastern drew accolades for competing.

“When we lost that game, everyone came to us after and remarked on how well the team played and were surprised by us,” recalled Sialtsis, who was on the sidelines that day.

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With the emergence of Mars, Joe Alexander and Charles Rochelin, Eastern became a crossroads of Canadian basketball history. More than 50 players have moved on to NCAA-affiliated schools, including UCLA and St. Bonaventure University. Many others went on to Canadian colleges and universities.

Former coach Roy Rana now heads the Ryerson University men’s program along with the junior national team.

David Joseph, the father of San Antonio guard Cory Joseph, was a longtime coach there. Mars returned to Eastern as coach and brought Magloire under his tutelage — when the team won OFSAA gold in 1995 and 1996.

“That was such a special run,” recalled Magloire of his two OFSAA wins. After two quiet seasons in Grades 9 and 10, the team turned a corner in his senior years. “We showed discipline and worked hard to get where we did.”

The program also became a tool to whip players into shape academically. With the help of teachers, Sialtsis instituted study hall before practice and strict standards for grades and play, a practice continued to this day.

“(Basketball)’s a tool to reach these guys, but if it’s the only tool and that’s the only drive, then you understand right away that these guys are not going to make it,” said Jeffers. “We try to instill good character and hold them accountable through all that stuff, that other programs may overlook.”

In that environment, their boys and girls basketball squads have still pulled in numerous championships. The boys and girls teams have combined to win 10 OFSAA gold medals and five silvers since 1974. They were defeated by Andrew Wiggins and Vaughan Secondary in the 2011 OFSAA quarter finals. The girls won back-to-back titles in 2007 and 2008.

“It’s tough to see Eastern, who is such a powerhouse, go through something like this,” said Magloire, a 2004 NBA all-star.

With the end approaching, the team wants to go out in style. Their dominant 93–49 win over Leaside puts the city championships and OFSAA, which takes place March 9 to 11 in Windsor, in their crosshairs. The next step toward a chance at the provincial title begins Monday in the city championship quarter-final against Sir Wilfrid Laurier at 3:30 p.m.

Losing only three games this season despite being undersized — Eastern’s tallest player, Delon Jemmott, is six-foot-five — this squad is excelling despite knowing the end of such a storied program is near.

“You feel the pressure,” said Jemmott, a Grade 11 student from Regent Park. “You see stuff on Instagram, Twitter, Eastern Commerce this, Eastern Commerce that. You have to brush your shoulders off and stay focused.”

That focus has brought the team closer together, says combo guard Kadre Gray.

“Before basketball, in the classrooms, playing around, we get to know each other,” he said. “On top of that, we’re all talking about basketball.”

It is that talk, and memories of Eastern, that will never go away, the team says.

Sialtsis, who devoted 40 years to Eastern, hopes for the same.

“Those of us who are a part of this, or appreciate it, we celebrate the successes we have,” said Sialtsis, who retired in 2004. “They ask me how I felt, and I say I’ve been away from Eastern, I was transferred to Birchmount Park Collegiate.

“But I never left Eastern. My heart is still there.”

Correction – February 25, 2015: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said Eastern Commerce finished second in the 2011 OFSAA championship finals.

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