Falcons Prey On Hawks

By Robert Thomas

A seemingly unprepared Gravelbourg Hawks found themselves easy prey against the South Hill Royal Falcons on Wednesday evening.

The Falcons were able to take the game to the Hawks winning 73 - 33.

It was a game which saw the Falcons taking an early lead in the first quarter as the Hawks were not able to take advantage of the early scoring opportunities.

“It went pretty good. We haven’t been in the Moose Jaw league for quite awhile. So we’re all learning,” Jeff Jacobs Gravelbourg’s head coach told MJ Independent.

About the large number of opportunities the Hawks had and missed - 20 points in the first quarter alone - Jacobs said it was nerves and also is something the team is set to work on.

“Yeah that’s the big thing. We have a clinic coming up this weekend and there will be a whole section of the clinic on shooting,” he said.

“We will get over the glass lid over the rim.”

Wednesday night started out with nerves, Jacobs said.

“I feel in our first quarter it was like a deer in the headlights our guys because we hadn’t been in Moose Jaw for awhile our guys. After awhile we gained some steam and played better,” he said.

For South Hill Royal Falcons head coach Kalen Senecal the team had a good night.

“We had a good game it was nice to see the boys come and pass the ball around. We played very well defensively. We’re happy how the season stated and they got a good run in tonight,” Senecal said.

Asked if he felt fortunate after the first quarter, because Gravelbourg was unable to capitalize on numerous scoring opportunities he said “you can tell they’ve got some skills. And once they put it all together they are going to be a team to reckon with.”

For the Falcons Senecal said the Falcons were focused to work the ball inside.

Something they did successfully.

A major problem the Falcons had were foul problems and discipline.

In the first quarter they hit the five foul mark but the Hawks were unable to take advantage of it.

Apart with through the fourth quarter one of their main players fouled out with five personal fouls.

“We’re going to work on that. We need to be a little bit lower to the ground and make sure we aren’t coming down on guys,” Senecal said.

Jacobs said after a three-year absence, it was decided that the team needed to re-enter the Moose Jaw city league in order to have a place to play.

“We needed a place to play. Down where we were you need a place to play he said, adding distance wise that “where we live it’s just a way of life.

Right now the only playing time the Hawks he’s getting is at tournaments.

Jacobs said Gravelbourg is happy to be back in the Junior Varsity boys league.

It’s a sentiment shared by Senecal who welcomes Gravelbourg’s return.

Burundi????

Jacobs said a big thing for the Gravelbourg team is six of the players are from Burundi.

“They’ve played basketball before but not in a team setting,” he said, adding “so they are all learning the rules. So we’re all learning together.”

The move have been interesting given there is a language barrier at times.

“They go to the other school in Gravelbourg, Conseils des écoles franskasois, so they needed another place to play and we (Ecole Gravelbourg School) joined up with them,” he explained.

The arrangement is not much different than the one between Cornerstone Christian School and Riverview Collegiate to form the South Hill Royal Falcons.

There are some language difficulties as the Burundi students second language is English.

Burundi has three official languages Kirundi, French and English.

“There is a bit of a barrier, but there are a lot of bilingual kids in Gravelbourg so they help out.”

Asked if it was going to be an experience coaching so many players from Burundi he said it had already been an experience, “but it’s been great.”

During the interview with Senecal he said Gravelbourg players who just needed time to develop and they could pose a strong threat later in the season, if that development happened.

Told where half of the team comes from, Burundi, Senecal was surprised, calling it “interesting.”