The hometown Blues hit all the right notes in Saturday’s final as winners of the Paul Kane Classic.
“It was a good team win. We played more as a team than in any other game we’ve played so far,” said Aaron Larose, a Grade 12 forward, after the 87-43 blowout of the Sturgeon Spirits in high school men’s basketball.
Shaydon Philip, the tournament’s most valuable player, drained 12 of his team-high 18 points during a decisive second quarter in which the Blues outscored the Spirits 31-16 for a commanding 52-27 halftime lead in front of a standing-room only crowd of Paul Kane and Sturgeon supporters.
“It was just a game of hard work and defence first. All we had to do was keep the pressure up full court and they couldn’t handle it. The ball handling wasn’t there for them,” said tournament all-star Cam Wagensveld.
In the first quarter, six Blues registered points highlighted by three-pointers by Larose and Thomas Laxdal to leave the Spirits trailing by 10.
The second quarter started with a booming three by Laxdal and it ended with Wagensveld scoring the team’s last seven points, capped off by the first of his two threes in the win. Wagensveld piled up the points after Danny Iskander’s three made it 45-22 with 1:27 left until the break.
An explosive scoring spree by Philip – five field goals and two free throws by the Grade 12 post during a 14-point stretch by the Blues – widened the gap to 38-19.
“We were playing a lot of individual basketball before this game, just trying to get our shots off, but with the extra pass we made that’s what kept us going to give us the lead,” said Wagensveld, a Grade 12 guard who dropped in 12 points overall.
The Blues emptied their bench in the second half with the outcome a done deal. After three quarters it was 71-34.
“We pushed the pace, which got them tired, and we just kept using our bench to get through it,” said Larose, an underrated hoopster who contributed 14 points to the cause.
The Spirits were led by Zane MacDonald’s game-high 20 points, including 14 in the first half.
Early in the fourth quarter, Corbin McCormack of the Spirits was ejected after questioning a foul charged against him. The Blues did a great job in limiting the hulking six-foot-seven post to only three points.
“It was kind of a rough game for us because we could’ve done better. Our heads weren’t in the game that much so if we had prepared more and focused a little bit better we would’ve came out with the W,” said co-captain Brady Miller, a tournament all-star.
The Spirits, a metro Edmonton division two pool B team, defeated a pair of division opponents – M.E. Lazerte Voyageurs 58-53 and McNally Tigers 62-61 – to reach the final.
“We played a good tournament. It’s a pretty good accomplishment knowing we beat two div one teams,” Miller said. “It was tougher games for us and a good learning experience for our season coming up to learn what we did wrong so we can improve and do better.”
The semifinal against McNally featured a ton of lead changes before it was decided in the last minute. Down by three with 45 seconds to play Miller converted a difficult layup and then the Spirits got a stop on defence. With two seconds left Eli Kaup had a one-hand touch back during frantic action under the hoop to put the Spirits up by one. McNally missed its last shot to end the game.
McCormack scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half, Miller tossed in 12 and MacDonald added 10.
“We could’ve blown them out but we had lapses in some quarters but all in all it was a good game for us,” said Miller, 17.
The Grade 12 guard is among a handful of returning players from the first Sturgeon basketball team to compete at provincials. The Spirits won the consolation final at the 3A tournament to finish 18-19 overall, which included a 2-11 division one record.
“Our goal is to go to provincials again and hopefully win div two,” Miller said of the seventh-ranked 3A Spirits.
The Blues, ranked eighth in 4A, turned in a sketchy 66-54 effort against the Lloydminster Barons before ramping it up to defeat the W.P. Wagner Warriors 81-53 in the semifinals.
“It was a much better game. We played more as a team (against the Barons). We weren't so individual. We just kept going and pushing and using everyone,” said Larose, 18.
Philip led the Blues with 18 points and Graeme Scheffer and Quinn Peterson had 11 apiece against the Warriors, who beat McNally 75-59 for third place.
“That was a good victory for us. That was the game that really sparked us for this game,” Wagensveld said of the semifinal result. “It was the start of our hard defence. We sort of slacked off on that at the end of the first half of the season so that was to get us back into action again.”
The Blues are now 7-3 in three tournaments but 3-3 in division one prior to Monday’s game against the Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds. The score was unavailable at press time.
“Winning this tournament is a confidence boost going into the rest of the season. We’ve got to hit every team like we hit this tournament and just keep the momentum going forward,” said Wagensveld, 17.
Visit www.stalbertgazette.com to view the team’s trophy picture.
