Toilers Triumph In Track Race

It is one of the premiere games and matchups in the Moose Jaw city basketball league and it lived up to the hype.

The game was fast paced, riveting, exciting, with a score that see sawed back and forth all night. The game drew the cheers of the fans.

The game was neck and neck until the last five minutes of the fourth quarter when the Toilers would take the lead they would not relinquish.

With 3:42 left in the game MaKungu Mukabazi would dunk the ball as the Peacock fans went wild. The score was Toilers 101 and the Cyclones 91.

A trip to the foul line for the Toilers with 2:53 left in the game all but sealed the Cyclones fate.

And at the end of it all the Peacock Toilers senior boys defeated the city league’s undefeated Central Cyclones 111 - 105.

The First Quarter score was Toilers 27 and the Cyclones 26.

The score at Halftime was Toilers 53 and the Cyclones 49.

The Third Quarter score was Toilers 82 and the Cyclones 77.

The Final Score was Toilers 111 and the Cyclones 105.

“It had to happen,” Cyclones head coach Barry Seaborn said in the post game interview.

The Toilers had just handed the Cyclones their loss of the 2023 - 2024 season in the Moose Jaw city league senior boys division.

Running into Tuesday’s matchup the Cyclones had a perfect 6 - 0 record while the Toilers were sporting a 4 - 2 record.

Seaborn said the loss was a combination of the Toilers shooting percentage and a lapse in the Cyclones defence.

“It was a great basketball game. They didn’t miss a shot and we contributed to that because we didn’t play great defence,” he said.

“They’re a really, really good basketball team and they played a really, really good game. For us I thought we played OK,” he said, adding “credit to them they shot the ball. I haven’t seen a shooting performance like that in a long time.”

Asked about standouts for the Toilers and the three pointers by the now healthy Mukabazi - who had missed portions of the season at the started - Seaborn said Kai Houghton hurt the Cyclones more.

The Toilers were aggressive on rebounds managing to beat the Cyclones to loose balls. On defensive rebounds two or three Toilers would be up against a single Cyclone to grab the ball.

“We talked about it all week. About boxing them (out) and we didn’t do that,” Seaborn said.

“We talked about a lot of things we didn’t do. So we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Seaborn is known in the league for his perfectionism “never take anything for granted” in coaching with a work hard ethic for himself and the players as a key to the Cyclones success.

“They’re physical and we’re not physical,” he said.

When it was pointed out the Cyclones have stepped up to a more physical game since their first meeting Seaborn said “maybe. But we need to get more physical. They just killed us on rebounds.”

“That’s what killed us in the end.”

The Cyclones played their top seven players in the game in an attempt to beat Toilers.

“We played seven kids. I feel bad for the kids that didn’t get to play tonight but we talked about that. We talked about being a little bit more engaged in practice and get after it a little bit more.”

For the Toilers’ head coach Troy Setter the back and forth shift of the lead in the game was big.

“Yeah it was a track race. It was a good game,” he said.

Although the quarter scores show the Toilers leading during the quarters the Cyclones would take a small lead only to lose it.

Asked if he ever thought the scores of both the Toilers and Cyclones

“Both teams are shooting the ball well. The defences were playing hard. It’s just that the offences were playing great.”

Asked if he thought the Toilers would beat the undefeated powerhouse Cyclones Setter said he did.

“You don’t go into a season not expecting to win games. Our guys have played hard all year. They practice hard. So it’s (just) believing. They believe in themselves and we believe in them. So just go out and play the game,” he said.

Asked what he thought about having a healthy team - given illnesses at the start of the season when the Cyclones defeated them - he said there is no room for excuses. You just have to come out and play.

“That’s the start of the year and you can bring up excuses for all sorts of things. There is no excuse there. They (the Cyclones) came prepared to win that game and we didn’t come prepared to play that game. That’s why we got handled the way we did.”

Asked what changed for the Toilers since their first encounter with the Cyclones he said practice and the team recently has been on a good run.

“Our boys have been playing some good basketball lately. We had a couple of good tournaments the last two weekends and we are playing well as a team,” he said, adding “we made a lot of shots. They shot the ball well.”

Asked about player highlights he pointed to a total team effort.

“J J and O Dog in there battling underneath. Those guys are monsters inside for the size they are. And I mean you saw Caleb and Josh Chamberlain hit a couple of big threes for us. Big rebounds and Kayden had a great game. Everyone stepped up and had a great game.”

“Kai (Houghton) controlled this game from the standpoint of bringing the ball up, finding the open guys and making big plays when he needed to. Making the free throws. We know what we are going to get from our players,” he said.

Asked about the large fan turnout Setter said he was happy about it.

“It’s always great to get the fans out. For both sides. That’s what high school basketball should be about. You have fans in the crowd cheering their teams on. Supporting their kids and their players. That is what high school ball is suppose to be about.”

It is a sentiment echoed by the Cyclones Seaborn who said it was good to see a large contingent of Central fans come out to the game.