City 4A Basketball Teams Have Good Start At Regionals
It was a big day for the four 4A high school basketball teams that played their first games in Regionals.
All four teams won and now advance to a final game.
The only 4A Moose Jaw team that did not play on Friday is the Vanier Spirits who are set to kick off their regionals today, Saturday, at 12 noon at Vanier Collegiate.
The winner of that game receives the berth into Hoopla - the provincial basketball finals - to be held in Moose Jaw March 21st - 23rd.
Here are a brief run down of the four games Moose Jaw 4A teams were involved in on Friday.
A couple of fans over at Peacock Collegiate cheering for the Toilers
Senior Boys 4A
Peacock Toilers - 98
Churchill Chargers - 44
Next Game - Saturday at 1:30 pm at the Peacock Gym for Regional Champion
The Toilers are given their pre-game instructions
The Peacock Toilers senior boys team is running on all cylinders at regionals.
For the Toilers all basketballs have turned into hand grenades - if they are even close they’re going to explode and go in.
Time after time the Toilers looked like a shot was a miss but some how it found it’s way through the mesh.
Toilers’ Kai Houghton (left) dribbles behind his back to avoid Chargers’ Cooper Skalicky
It’s something Toilers head coach Troy Setter tried to play down.
“It was good we got everybody to play,” Setter said.
“La Ronge is a nice good young team over there. They work hard and make the nice plays so it was a good game,” he said.
As part of Peacock’s senior boys, team five members of the junior boys team have been added to the roster. Adding the juniors to the roster allows them to get at least some experience in a senior playoff setting.
For well over five minutes the entire junior boys players played as a unit in Friday afternoons’s game.
Toilers’ Kaison Skeoch looks for teammate to pass to after falling onto his back
Asked about how everything was seemingly firing in the Toilers favour Setter said “we used our size to our advantage…we took it inside…they’re a little shorter so definitely, we wanted to pound it inside.
He said one of the big things about regionals is you’re up against teams you’ve never seen before so you do not know what to expect.
“I mean the rankings are the rankings so it is what it is.”
Toilers’ Jayden Lobb goes in for a layup after knocking over a defender
Toilers’ Luke Andrews (right) works in close against Chargers’ Leo Edmond
Toilers’ Caleb Snowden reaches for a basket
Toilers’ MaKungu Mutbazi (right) reaches over top of an opponent.
Toilers’ Kai Houghton (Right) tries to stop the ball from going out of bounds
Toilers’ Owen Varjassy (right) rebounds against the Chargers Brian McDonald
The Scoresheet
Senior Boys 4A
Central Cyclones - 123
Notre Dame Hounds - 42
Next Game - Saturday at 1:30 pm at the Central Collegiate Gym for Regional Champion
A Cyclones team member takes a pass
For Central Cyclones head coach Barry Seaborn it was nice to get out onto the court after a couple weeks absence.
“We’re happy we did some things we wanted to do. We got some of our plays down we haven’t been working on for a while. Through the lack of practice,” Seaborn said.
“It was nice to get some shots up again. It was good. We played well.”
Cyclones’ Chase Seaborn (left) heads outside of an opponent
About Saturday afternoon’s final, Seaborn said the team needed to get after the ball a little bit more.
“At times they (the team) seem to back off, and I think we have to play a little bit tougher defence but I think that will come. We need a little bit more of a competitive game I think.”
Asked if he worried about playing 16th seeded that the team may not take their opponent seriously Seaborn said that wasn’t a concern.
“I think the biggest thing you worry about is somebody getting hurt. Because some of those 16 teams come in there and they’re a little rough,” he said.
He went on to say that the Notre Dame Hounds team they faced were not out taking cheap shots.
Cyclones Josh Sazon jumps extra high against a very tall Notre Dame Hounds defender
If a player was pushed from behind and went under the stage as a result, when he fell down, they could be injured and take them out of the rest of the season or worse.
“These guys were really good about it,” he said.
Seaborn said the key to victory on Saturday at the regional final was to “come out and play.”
Cyclones’ Suliman Suliman goes in for a layup
Half time at the Central Cyclones bench
Cyclones’ Reid Weiss heads in along the baseline
Girls 4A
Peacock Toilers - 77
Tisdale Tornadoes - 41
Next Game - Saturday at 3:15 pm at Peacock Collegiate’s Gym for Regional Champion
Toilers’ Scout Pablo (center) tries to avoid the tight coverage by a Tisdale Tornadoes’ Hayley Burns
For Peacock Toilers senior girls head coach Brendan Fedoski regionals couldn’t have started out any better.
The Toilers had improved massively from day, one in the Moose Jaw high school basketball city league.
“I was really happy with it. The girls came to play. We’ve been trying to focus on it and the details without a lot of practising on it. But it was good (how it turned out),” Fedoski said.
Tisdale Tornadoes’ Jordan Szucs is watched closely by the Toilers’ Kaycee Buchanan
The inability to hold regular practises the past couple of weeks has impacted the team. The reason why regular practises cannot be held was due to job actions by the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation.
“I’m just proud of the team. They’ve grown a lot through the season. I think you can see that from game one to where they are now.”
Peacock Toilers Klara Raaschou (left) tries to get the ball away from Tisdale Tornadoes’ Hayley Burns
Peacock Toiler’ Taylor Craik (left) tries to get around the Tornafors’ Mikaela Sherlock
Peacock Toilers’ Klara Raaschou (center) keys in on a loose ball
Extra instructions given during a late in the game time out
The Scoresheet
Girls 4A
Central Cyclones - 77
Martensville Royals - 41
Next Game - Saturday at 3:15 pm at the Central Collegiate Gym for Regional Champion
Central Cyclones Mykenzie Shymko (right) evades the Royals’ Kolby Desrosiers
For the Central Cyclones senior girls team it was a slow start in their first matchup against the Martinsville Royals.
Martinsville somehow had a slim few point lead leading into the last minute of the first quarter.
Somehow the Cyclones managed to gain their composure.
“The first half was our best year offensively for sure,” Central Cyclones head coach Tanya McLean said.
“Yeah they came on strong We were a little hesitant at first, but then we played OK.”
A Martensville player tries to go around a Cyclones defender
Regarding the Martensville team coming out so strong she said it was like a blind meeting.
“We’ve never seen them before. We knew nothing about them…they came out firing for sure.”
Following the Cyclones massive second quarter effort the Royals responded by outscoring the Cyclones.
“We didn’t know what to expect.”
A battle on the floor
“We had a great and amazing first half. This was likely our best first half all year. And then our third-quarter they outscored us,” McLean said.
“We have to learn to play an entire game still.”
