Cyclones Defeat Feisty South Hill

Photos and story by Robert Thomas

The meet up between the Central Cyclones and South Hill Royal Eagles is a tale of two games.

The first quarter saw South Hill take a surprising 24 - 20 after 10 minutes.

South Hill would seemingly pound in field goal after field goal led by five three pointers by Wyatt Craik in the first quarter.

But the short benched Royal Falcons - who only dressed eight players due to illness - ran out of gas midway through the second quarter as the full roster Cyclones took over lead and never looked back.

The First Quarter saw the Central Cyclones off to a slow start with the team failing to put their hands up allowing South Hill to score six field goals.

The score at the end of the quarter was South Hill 24 and Central 20.

The Second Quarter leaned in the Cyclones favour after a pep talk between quarters and the short benched Royal Falcons noticeably at the 6:30 mark start to run out of steam.

The Cyclones would respond with a 14 point second half by Garrit Gulutzan who would not only battle and break for the basket but also show his prowess from three point land.

The score at the half was Central 55 and South Hill 35.

The Third Quarter saw the Cyclones continue to control the game.

There were some bright moments for the Royal Falcons as their defence kept the Cyclones from increasing their lead even more.

Cooper Gregor would on three occasions reach up and block the Cyclones from taking what looked like sure baskets. Gregor was joined by teammate Drew Biette who used their height to block what could have been 14 points on the evening. Mckelvey Ellard had a big night blocking shots as well.

The Fourth Quarter saw Central’s S Suliman score 12 points.

Final score Central Cyclones 100 and South Hill Royal Falcons 62.

Despite the loss there were a lot of smiles on the South Hill bench including Royal Falcons head coach Kalen Senecal.

Senecal saw the game played by the Royal Falcons as a solid effort - especially Wyatt Craig’s seemingly uncanny ability to make three pointers.

Tuesday evening was a big night for the Royal Falcon’s from field goal land as they scored 42 of their 62 points by three pointers - seven field goals by Wyatt Craik.

“It was an exciting first quarter for sure,” Senecal said “Wyatt Craik I don’t what he put up in the first quarter but he was out there lining it up.”

Despite the shooting from three point land he said he was happy how the team’s defence played.

“Our defence I was very impressed with tonight.”

The short bench - due to illness - was a factor for the Royal Falcons.

“In that first quarter I was very impressed we had the legs to keep up with Central,” Senecal said.

“We had eight guys tonight, that’s not an excuse, but Central is a very fast team and we are going to hang with them as long as we can…at the start of the game I said I wanted to compete against these guys and I think we competed.”

Despite the team missing one-third of its players due to illness Senecal said there never were any thoughts about forfeiting but the team came out and gave its best effort.

Asked how it felt to turn in a strong game against the reigning provincial 4A champions - Central Cyclones - Senecal said he was happy.

“You can’t be mad about it. We competed very well. The boys are really happy with the results. The score might not (show our effort)…but I think we played really well. We made good decisions and worked really hard and that’s basketball,” Senecal said.

Asking to reflect back on the first quarter and if he was surprised to have the lead after ten Senecal said he wasn’t.

“I wasn’t surprised because we were shooting so well. If your shots are heading into the basket you realize you are going to hang in the game.”

Senecal was ecstatic about how well the team played defensively - one of the best efforts of the season.

“Mckelvey Ellard probably had his best game defensively. I think he had four or five blocks you can’t ask for anything more than that.”

The game against Central was seen as helpful for the Royal Falcons run in the race for the provincial 3A crown.

“I talked to the boys about always getting better here. We only have so many opportunities to play basketball and we get better every time we play it. I think we got better tonight,” he said.

For Central Cyclones head coach Barry Seaborn the team had a slow start and shooting allowed the Royal Falcons to lead for the opening ten minutes.

“They just shot really well. Sometimes that happens with a team. We always seem to get other teams’ best shooting game. I think they were eight in ten for three (points) in the first quarter. I’ve never seen that before,” Seaborn said.

“It was just good shooting,” he said.

The Cyclones also came out a little flat to start the game.

“We have a little bit of a problem with that. Sometimes we don’t come out with a lot of energy. So we have got to fix that. Because if you come out with the wrong team like that you’re in trouble,” he said.

Shooting was key for South Hill Seaborn said.

“They just came out and shot it, shot it and shot it. You watched it. Everything went in. They shot way better than we did.”

The Cyclones also failed to get a hand up to increase the difficulties for South Hill’s shooters helping them score, he said.

It’s something Seaborn said was talked about during the pre-game meeting to get a hand up on the shooters.

The longer bench for Central allowed the team to get more players onto the court.

Overall the Cyclones put in a good effort, he said.

“I thought we played good in the second and third quarter. We gave up 32 (points) in the first quarter and what did we give up 62 (points in total). I think we played better in the second, third and fourth quarters.”

Despite the win Seaborn said the Cyclones learnt from the game - one with South Hill’s shooting from three point land. Most times the Cyclones opponents break for the net either straight from the center or along the baseline.

“It helped us to get a hand up and to rebound,” he said, adding that “because we’re not the best rebounding team. We’re not huge. We’re pretty small in size so sometimes we have got to learn to rebound to.”

Asked about South Hill using their size to block shots it’s something the Cyclones bench noticed.

The Cyclones’ win combined with the Peacock Toilers loss to Swift Current earlier in the evening has created a log jam for first place in Moose Jaw senior boys league play.

Swift Current, Central and Peacock are now all tied for first place with 5 - 1 records.

The Cyclones head out this morning to a multi-day tournament in Edmonton.