The Paul Kane Blues unwrapped an early Christmas present Wednesday in high school men’s basketball.
The 2011 Metro Edmonton Premier Conference champions defeated the St. Albert Skyhawks 80-66 for their second victory in five games.
“We needed this win,” said Brandon Best, a Grade 12 guard for the 8-4 Blues. “Lately we’ve been coming out and not playing our game. We’ve been playing down to the other team’s level, but today it was a better effort, especially in the second half.”
Down by two at halftime, the Blues outscored the Skyhawks 19-13 in the third quarter before pulling away in the last 10 minutes of the game.
“We’ve got to come out with way more intensity and we’re having a problem with that,” Best said. “We came out today frazzled with a lot of nerves and at halftime we really had to get our guys jump started. As you saw, when we’re fired up we play a lot better game.”
The Skyhawks gave the Blues a huge scare until the game slipped away in the fourth quarter.
“They expected to stomp all over us, but we fought hard and showed them that we’re not going to be that easy to roll over,” said Cole Aikens, a six-foot-six third-year Skyhawk. “We went in as the underdogs with nothing to lose. We were really pumped to play them and we played really well. The first three quarters we were in the game and then we kind of collapsed.”
A three-pointer by Tyler Wise of the Blues in the fourth quarter triggered a nine-point run that left the Skyhawks trailing by 14 with about four minutes remaining.
It was 74-62 when Levi Constantine, a towering Grade 11 Skyhawks post, fouled out with 3:30 to play. Less than a minute later, Aikens joined Constantine on the bench after his fifth foul and the Blues on top 77-62.
“That was tough, but our team did a really good job of fighting to the end and showed lots of character,” Aikens said. “We’ve just got to learn to finish strong.”
Constantine pumped in 14 points and Aikens added 13 in the loss. They out-rebounded the Blues by a wide margin and combined for several blocks while dominating the paint with their physicality.
Cam Vilcsak, a flashy Grade 11 guard, spearheaded the Skyhawks’ attack with 21 points and two three-pointers.
Wise led all scorers with 29 points. The valuable Grade 12 forward gave the Blues a big boost in the second half with some clutch baskets while tacking up 13 points. He also rattled the rim with a two-handed dunk to make it 77-62 with 3:03 to go.
Best’s 13-point performance included two three-pointers and a number of assists.
Hyrum Sutton and rookie Jacob Laxdal sank 11 points apiece for the sixth-ranked 4A team in Alberta.
“That ranking is where we should be. It gives us some space to climb up,” Best said. “We’ve got some things to work on. We’ve also got a lot of veterans and we’re looking for that leadership to come through for us.”
The Skyhawks are listed sixth in the 3A rankings in their first season in premier after several years in the city conference.
“We weren’t expecting to do anything in premier but we’re making a lot of noise and it feels great. That’s why we were really pumped going into this game. Not only is it another St. Albert team but it’s our first year in premier and we want to prove our stuff,” Aikens said.
Before the loss the Skyhawks had strung three wins together, including a 74-69 decision against the Sturgeon Spirits (1-2) in Namao.
“We fought just as hard against them as we did against Paul Kane and we didn’t give up,” said Akins, 17.
Sturgeon’s only win in premier was Monday’s surprising 86-71 result against the Blues at Paul Kane.
“They play spirited basketball. They wanted it more than us and that’s all it was; they just wanted it bad,” said Best, 17.
Last weekend at the REB tournament at Jasper Place High School the Blues finished seventh out of eight teams after defeating the Central Memorial Rams of Calgary 106-77. They lost the tournament opener to the Bishop Grandin Ghosts of Calgary 83-65 and in the consolation semifinal lost 102-89 to the Harry Ainlay Titans. The Titans and Ghosts are ranked first and fourth, respectively, in 4A.
“Against Bishop Gandin we didn’t play up to their level but we had a great game against Ainlay,” Best said. “Because we’re the defending [metro league] champs, guys really want to beat us and we’ve got to understand that and be ready to play.”
Over the holidays the Blues are in Florida for a tournament at Daytona Beach.
