Jasper Place – The Paul Kane Blues opened and closed the 33rd annual annual REB Invitational with wins but two losses in between left the men’s basketball team playing for pride.
In the tournament wrap-up Saturday, the Blues hung on to defeat the host Jasper Place Rebels 58-55 in an entertaining affair to finish seventh in the 12-team draw.
“We played pretty hard,” said Thomas Laxdal, a Grade 11 forward who scored nine of his 11 points in the first half. “It’s good to beat these guys. We have a tough rivalry against them.”
Laxdal’s three-pointer and two free throws kicked off a nine-point run to open the game but the Rebels rebounded by draining four three-points to lead 18-17 at quarter time.
The lead switched sides during a back and forth second quarter until Quinn Peterson dropped in his second three of the half to put the Blues back on top 31-28 with 3:25 left until the break.
The Rebels battled back from a 33-30 halftime deficit to end the third quarter leading 40-39.
In the final 10 minutes, Peterson wired seven points including a pair of terrific threes, Shayden Phillip drained six clutch points and Danny Iskander nailed a timely field goal and his free throw late in the game made it 57-51.
The Rebels replied with a three with under 40 seconds to play and Phillip sealed the deal with a free throw.
Peterson’s team-high 15 points was highlighted by four threes and Phillip recorded 12 points overall.
“It came down to the wire which is pretty good. A lot of our leaders came through today and we came out with the win,” Laxdal said.
The teams tangle again today at 5 p.m. at Jasper Place in the last metro Edmonton division one game before the Christmas break.
The Blues improved to 3-1 in league play and 7-4 overall – they also placed third at the Totem Hoop Classic at Ross Sheppard High School – after Monday’s 71-63 win over the St. Peter the Apostle Spartans at Paul Kane.
“We’re working really hard. All the boys are gelling together really nicely,” Laxdal said. “Our defence has definitely been strong and we’re working really hard down in the paint. We’re getting all those loose balls and we’re not scared to hit the floor anymore like in previous years.”
The REB brought out the best in the Blues despite the 2-2 record.
“We played some pretty tough teams and we had to work really hard against them. It showed us what we have to do and work to get towards our goal of winning a provincial championship,” said Laxdal.
He pointed to the tournament opener, 75-57 against the Lethbridge Collegiate Institute Rams, as the team’s best game at the REB.
“Last year one of the stronger players on LCI beat us for a lot of points and this year we proved our defence could come through and beat their team,” Laxdal said.
The next game was a 75-57 loss to the O’Leary Spartans, the 2014 4A provincial silver medallists, followed by a 77-56 setback to the Bishop O’Byrne Bobcats of Calgary.
“We wanted that one against O’Leary really bad. They’re really physical and we needed to show them that we can do that too,” said Laxdal, 16, one of nine returning Blues on a 13-man roster bolstered by eight Grade 12s.
Last season the Blues placed eighth in division one and lost their opening playoff game to the Harry Ainlay Titans, the eventual 4A champions, to finish 6-8 in league play.
“We’re ready to win this year,” said Laxdal, a junior high basketball product of the Vincent J. Maloney Marauders.
