Fifth for Skyhawks
The St. Albert Skyhawk men completed their first trip to the 3A basketball provincials in 15 years with an amazing comeback victory in the consolation final Saturday in Camrose.
Down by 21 points to the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs of Lethbridge, the Skyhawks clawed their way back to within 16 in the fourth quarter and then caught lighting in a bottle, racking up 32 points to win 68-59.
"Defence is what did it for us. In the first quarter we didn't play any defence and we gave up 31 or 32 points. We made an adjustment and switched to our zone in the second quarter just to fill up the middle because they were penetrating like crazy," said Evan Holstein, head coach of the 21-17 Skyhawks. "In the second half we got stops and got quality looks. We started executing and we scored a bunch of points. It was awesome."
Ben Crothers hit some key shots late in the game and a three-pointer by Robi Sanchez with about a minute left was the dagger that left the Bulldogs reeling.
"We had some guys step up big for us," Holstein said.
The Skyhawks were seeded sixth and the Bulldogs were ranked ninth in the 12-team draw.
"We achieved our goal. We wanted to end up higher than we entered so to finish in fifth place is great," Holstein said. "We walked into the game thinking this was our provincial championship. We've kind of been up and down all year and this was sort of indicative of our season. We kind of started slow and then we had a really big push at the end and that's kind of how the game went for us, too."
The metro Edmonton premier conference team won its provincial opener against the 11th-seeded Beaverlodge Royals 89-49 and in the quarter-finals lost 58-48 to the third-seeded Camrose Trojans, the eventual gold medallists.
The Skyhawks rebounded with a 60-52 win against the seventh-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas Thunder of Spruce Grove for a berth in the consolation final.
Blues finish eighth
The Paul Kane Blues placed eighth out of 16 teams at the 4A men's basketball provincials last weekend in Cardston and Raymond.
The two-time defending metro Edmonton premier conference champions finished 2-2 in the tournament after Saturday's 85-79 loss to the Bishop Grandin Ghosts of Calgary.
The Ghosts were seeded seventh and the Blues were ranked eighth in the tournament draw.
Grade 12 standout Tyler Wise scored 29 points for the Blues. Khalil Bertin tossed in 17 and Hyrum Sutton added 16 as the Blues finished the season with a 23-15 overall record.
The Blues tipped off provincials with an 88-52 victory over the ninth-seeded Raymond Comets. Wise and Peter McKay uncorked four three-pointers apiece. Wise finished with 28 points, McKay posted 14 and Bertin had 13.
In the quarter-finals the Blues bowed out 103-70 to the No. 1-seeded Harry Ainlay Titans. Bertin scored a team-high 15 points, Sutton sank 14 and Wise had 10 against the Edmonton public league champions.
The Blues regrouped to win their next game 73-52 over the fifth-seeded Catholic Central Cougars of Lethbridge. All 10 Paul Kane players scored points, led by Wise's 18 and Jacob Laxdal's 15.
Lady Blues win one
The Paul Kane women's basketball team won its last game of the season to wrap up the 4A provincial tournament.
Melissa Woolley recorded a team-high 14 points and Josee Larson pumped in 12 as the 10th-seeded Blues defeated the 14th-seeded Lloydminster Barons 59-43 Saturday in Raymond.
The metro Edmonton premier conference team started provincials with losses of 47-28 to the seventh-seeded Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs and 59-55 to the 15th-seeded Hunting Hills Lightning of Red Deer.
