Toilers Lose To Colts By Single Point
Story and Photos by Robert Thomas
The log jam in senior boys basketball was busted open last night as the Swift Current Colts defeated the Peacock Toilers 87 - 86 Tuesday evening.
Early in the third quarter the Toilers had managed to pull ahead of the Colts by 14 points but turnovers and foul problems were capitalized on by Swift Current to end the quarter leading 60 - 57.
The Colts trailed the Toilers by two points until there was 2.2 seconds left on the clock. Duncan Gerana made a basket while drawing a foul. Gerana would make the free throw to give the Colts a one point lead.
After a Toilers timeout they attempted to sink a basket but were unable to score to win the game.
The win gave the Colts a regular season 7 - 1 record leap frogging them into first place in the city league past the Central Cyclones who finished the regular season with a 6 - 1 record.
The Toilers finished up in third place with a regular season record of 5 - 2.
If the Toilers had won the game the top three teams in senior boys basketball would have had identical 6 - 1 regular season records.
If there had been a three way tie in the regular season standings the teams’ placement (first place to third place) would have been decided by the policies of MJHSAA (Moose Jaw High School Athletic Association).
“It was a battle. It could have gone either way in a lot of different scenarios. Both teams played really hard,” Phil Braun head coach of the Swift Current Colts told MJ Independent in the post game interview.
Asked about the third quarter, when the Colts were trailing by 14 points, and if he was worried the game had slipped past the Colts Braun said it is the team’s character that carried them through.
“Our guys you know they battled through it. They weathered a few storms and I’m proud of the guys. They didn’t give up or quit. They worked their butts off,” he said.
“There was definitely a little bit of concern for a bit…we’ve had a few games like that, (Where) we’ve had to battle and we came out on top. So I’m glad these guys were able to get this one.”
Asked about the Moose Jaw city league’s highly competitive senior boys division Braun said he was happy with it.
“I think it’s great. It’s great that these three teams can go at it and have good games. It’s a lot of fun,” he said.
Braun said being able to play competitive teams on a regular league “definitely” helped the Colts to improve their game.
With the Colts now hosting a semi-final game it’s something the team looks forward to.
“We look forward to it. It’s always nice when you can stay home rather than travel,” he said, adding “the last two games we had a pretty decent crowd.”
There was also a major first as far as coverage goes for the Colts when the local radio station live broadcast the February 4th game versus the Toilers.
It’s something Braun had never seen before during his coaching tenure.
“It was a good response (from the community). Yeah it was fun,” he said.
Losing a game is never easy Peacock Toilers head coach Troy Setter said.
“I thought it was fun. It is what it is. Basketball is a sport and you have got to have fun playing it. You have to have fun coaching it. It’s always better when you win obviously but I mean I thought it was a great game. It was entertaining for the fans,” Setter said.
“We’re happy with guys who got in (the game). The kind of minutes they got. Everybody played…everybody else played. Maybe not a lot of minutes but they played good minutes. They battled hard,” he said.
Turnovers and fouls hurt the Toilers and ultimately were major factors in the loss.
“We gave too many easy buckets. Too many turnovers in our end and they capitalized on them like a good team does. And they’re obviously a good team,” he said.
Asked about the 14 point lead the Toilers had at one time Setter said it wasn’t something he was paying attention to. There are other things going on on the court that are far more important.
“I honestly wasn’t looking (at the score). I wasn’t playing the score honestly I’m looking at what my guys are doing an how we can improve every game. Regardless of the score if you win by 20 I’m always trying to look at other things,” he said.
As part of that he played the team looking ahead to the big games on the horizon.
One of the aspects of Peacock’s game is that early and throughout the game non-starters received playing time. Sutter said it was better for the team.
“Guys don’t get better if they don’t play. We’ve got big games coming down the stretch regardless of how this game ended we were playing Swift or Central in the next game and it doesn’t matter who that is. It’s not going to be an easy game. We knew we were going to be on the road so guys don’t get better unless they play.”
“Get them in. Get them battled,” he said.
The non-starters were mixed with starters in a “good balance.”
Setter called out the play of Jack Redstone.
“Jack Redstone played, he hasn’t played in some of these big games before, so I put him on there and he played great defence for us…he made some great plays defensively and fired us up.”
The non-starters put on a solid performance.
“If you play like that you are going to get more minutes. That is what we need to see in this game. We need to see who will step up in the big moment. Who we can trust going forward and we saw lots of good things,” he said.
Asked if he was happy how members of the team fought hard under the baskets for loose balls he said “it was a good game. If you are giving up 87 points you’re not going to win the game. That’s the bottom line.”
“You can’t give up 87 (points and expect to win a game. You’re not going to shoot the lights out every game.”
Although the bleachers were only about three-quarters full the pro-Toilers fans were loud throughout the game.
“The support was good. It is always nice when you play sports,” Setter said.
Asked about playing the semi-final at second place Central Cyclones gym Setter said it was no big deal although it would be nice to play at home.
“I think this might be like our home gym because I think we’ve played in there more this year than we have in this one (Peacock Collegiate). I think this will be our fourth game there, we were at a tournament there. I think we’ve played only seven home games (at Peacock) and we’re going to have eight (games) in Central’s gym.”
Peacock is known to have more fans attend games at Central Collegiate’s gym that the Cyclones when the Toilers play their arch rival Cyclones at Central’s gym.
Setter said he would prefer to play at Peacock but “Central is a great team. We have great battles with them. It’s good Swift Current is in there. They tweak the dynamics so it’s good.”
Asked about the effect playing in a highly competitive league in Tier One he said it did.
Although the Toilers are hoping to make it to Hoopla - the provincial championships - the rural 5A division only sends two teams and the competition for the trip to Hoopla in Saskatoon is highly competitive with a lot of schools who are basketball powerhouses.
“The 5A rural regionals are very tough this year…to get to Hoopla this year is going to be very difficult.”
After being classified as a 5A school two years ago the Toilers moved to 4A last year. But this year they are back in 5A against some very stiff and talented competition.
A school’s A ranking is based upon enrolment. The 5A ranking is the top ranking so there are many schools with higher attendance than Peacock. The schools with the most students that are 5A have an advantage as they have a larger pool to draw players from.
“To get to Hoopla it is going to be quite the adventure.”
