Peacock Faces Vanier In Senior Boys Basketball Rematch
The last time they met on Peacock Collegiate's hardwood the Peacock Toilers and Vanier Vikings senior boys basketball teams had what could be politely described as a highly emotional battle.
Tuesday evening's much anticipated re-match saw all the stops pulled out both on and off the court.
Photos and Story by Robert Thomas
Vanier's viking mascot feigns boredom by yawning after the Toiler's peacock mascot missed a free throw in a half-time mascot challenge - MJ Independent photo
The start of the game was hotly contested with both sides coming out strong.
Points initially were hard to come by but after a few minutes the Toilers took a small lead over the Vikings.
It was the tone of the first half with the slightly smaller Vikings team go step by step with the Toilers.
The quarter scores in the first half was not equal to the effort the Vikings put into the game.
The Vikings - especially multi-sport utility athlete Joel Marak - using precision passing along with shooting to hit multiple field goals the Toilers did their best to defend against.
But in the second half the Vikings slowly ran out of gas and the Peacock Toilers would defeat the visiting Vanier Vikings 90 - 65.
Peacock Toilers Makunga Matuba goes up to successfully dunk - MJ Independent photo
The score after the First Quarter was Peacock 28 and Vanier 16.
The score at Half-Time was Peacock 48 and Vanier 27.
Vanier Vikings Eli Mieli (left) defends against Peacock Toilers Tegan Gagnon - MJ Independent photo
The score after the Third Quarter was Peacock 67 and Vanier 39.
The Final Score was Peacock 90 and Vanier 65.
Vanier Vikings Eli Mieli (left) attempts to evade the Peacock Toilers offensive push - MJ Independent photo
Top Scorers for Peacock
Kai Houghton - 25 points
Lance Geddes - 16 points
Mac Simpson - 15 points
Vanier Vikings Eli Mieli (left) rushes down court with Peacock Toilers Tegan Tollefson in hot pursuit - MJ Independent photo
Top Scorers for Vanier
Xander Champìon - 16 points
Joel Marak - 15 points
Kyle Andres - 14 points
Vanier Vikings Joel Marak (left) prepares to shoot a three pointer as he is challenged by a charging Peacock Toilers Mac Simpson - MJ Independent photo
Post Game Comments
Peacock Toilers were represented by player Lance Geddes who graciously offered to do the post game interview.
Asked what he thought about the game Geddes felt it went according to Peacock's game.
“It went pretty well I guess about as much as we expected,” Geddes said when asked what he thought about the game.
Asked about what the team were expecting from Vanier he said the Toilers were expecting the Vikings to come out strong.
“They came out strong in the first quarter, but not as strong as we expected. By the third quarter they gave it their all but they didn’t come close,” he said.
“But it was a good game.”
The rebounding was often aggressive - MJ Independent photo
Geddes said he was “really looking forward to this game because I like playing basketball.”
MJ Independent asked him as a player what he liked and disliked about the Toilers play.
“What I did like was our team communication it went pretty well with the game and how we just played really well together.”
He said his dislikes in the Toilers play was turning over the ball to the Vikings.
“What I didn’t like was some turnovers we really didn’t do very well.”
Another area where there needed to be adjustments was Vanier's ability to set up the ball for their shooters - especially in field goal (three pointer) range.
“They're always good setting up for their shooters.”
Peacock Toilers tallman Makunga Matuba (left) gets set to break in on the basket - Mj Independent photo
Geddes said he was looking forward to the upcoming city and provincial playoffs.
The biggest challenge for the Toilers should be the Central Cyclones, he said.
“We lost the last game (to Central) and won the game before that.”
For Vanier Vikings head coach Brody Wassman it was all a case of conditioning and running out of gas.
“If the game was 20 long we would do pretty good I would say but unfortunately the games are 40 minutes long. So we have some work to do to finish an actual game,” Wassman said.
When asked about the Vikings performance he said they did well at the start but then just did have the gas to finish through.
“There one guy came out very strong and shot really well. And then we got him to cool off a little and we started to swing things in our favour,” he said.
Peacock Toilers Josh Johnson attempts to hand the ball off as the Vanier Vikings blocks their opponents out of the key - MJ Independent photo
Although the quarter scores don’t show it the Vikings were as close as three points behind when Peacock started to pull ahead.
Despite the second loss to Peacock Wassman said the team has the talent to succeed in the upcoming playoffs but it will take work to get there.
