The Paul Kane Blues handed the O’Leary Spartans their first loss in league play in Monday’s first-place showdown in metro Edmonton high school basketball.
Des Anderson delivered five of the team’s nine three-pointers in the convincing 71-46 victory at Paul Kane.
“We wanted to play hard and get first in our division and we pulled it off,” Anderson said.
At halftime the Blues led by 21 after blitzing the Spartans 19-6 in the second quarter. The score after three quarters was 49-26.
The Blues out-worked the Spartans on defence, ran the court with gusto and passed the ball around like magicians in arguably the team’s best game of the season.
“The last couple of games we haven’t come out aggressive enough so this game we really wanted to focus on being aggressive and taking it to them and that’s what we did,” Anderson said.
In the first half Anderson poured in four three-pointers, including three in a row as the Blues outscored the Spartans 9-2 to start the second quarter to make it 29-14.
The Grade 12 shooting guard finished the game with a team-high 17 points.
“The last couple of games I wasn’t coming out shooting enough and being aggressive so this game I wanted to come out and shoot the ball and that’s what I did,” he said.
Tyler Wise added 11 points, Peter McKay fired two three-pointers while tacking up 10 and Stuart Boucher had nine as the 2011 premier men’s champions improved their overall record to 17-11.
McKay filled the hoop twice from three-point territory. Boucher and Wise, who has committed to the Alberta Golden Bears, also tossed in one each from long range.
The dominating performance by the Blues was on par with their recent 66-54 home-court win over the St. Francis Xavier Rams (3-2), the second-ranked 4A team in Alberta.
“We played hard and just as aggressive in both games. They were both great team efforts,” Anderson said.
In the last 4A rankings the Blues fell from sixth into the same honourable mention category as the Spartans.
“That really got a fire going inside us because we think we should be way higher than that and we’re working to get back up in the rankings,” Anderson said.
The Blues and Spartans share first place at 7-1 with one game remaining before the playoffs tip-off Feb. 27.
“We’re going to get lots of practices in and come out strong in playoffs,” said Anderson, one of eight returnees from the team’s 29-12 overall record and eighth place finish at provincials last season.
Meanwhile, in tournament action last weekend at the Spartans Showdown at O’Leary High School, the Blues beat the Father Lacombe Lasers of Calgary, lost their semifinal to the Catholic Central Cougars of Lethbridge and defeated the J. Percy Page Panthers 81-70 for third place. The Cougars, ranked ninth in 4A, won the final.
“It wasn’t our best effort. We didn’t play aggressive enough. In the semifinal they just took it to us, but we came out stronger in the third-place game,” said Anderson, 17.
FREE THROWS: The lady Blues raised their premier record to 4-3 in Monday’s 47-39 win over the Spartans (5-2) at Paul Kane. Tiana Woyewitka led the Blues with 11 points and Josee Larson dialed up two three-pointers.
The next game for the Blues is today against the Bisons (3-4) in Ardrossan at 5 p.m.
