The difference between height and speed was five points in the St. Albert Physical Education Council junior high boys’ basketball final.
The Lorne Akins Gators stood taller than the faster Richard S. Fowler Falcons in Thursday’s 55-50 Tier 1 city championship victory at the SkyDome.
Size mattered in the SAPEC three-peat by the Gators.
“This year we’ve been dominating the inside with our big men,” said Owen Cooke, a Grade 9 Gator who played a big role along with standouts’ Bryce Neul and Ryan Holmes during the team’s 20-3 season.
The loss was the fourth by the Falcons against the larger Gators.
“We’ve got that speed advantage. We’re faster than them,” said the elusive Vince Laurel, a diminutive Grade 9 Falcon and arguably the best player on the floor in the final. “They’re just tall and they’ve got that advantage on us.”
The Gators were flying high in the first quarter while cranking out 11 points in a row, including three consecutive baskets by Cooke in the opening five minutes before Evan Brassard hit two free throws for the Falcons.
“We played them three times this year and they’ve been up on us in the first quarter so we went out there and we really wanted to prove that we can get ahead of them in the first quarter,” Cooke said.
Brassard finished the quarter with five points as the Falcons trailed by seven at 17-10.
The Falcons stayed within striking distance of the Gators and briefly passed the leaders on a Lucas Haines’ basket with 2:35 left in the half.
With 12.3 on the clock, Neo Tividad launched a three-pointer that bounced off the rim so high it almost touched the ceiling before dropping through to make it 28-25 at the break.
Brassard collected nine points overall in the half and Luke Brodeur tacked up seven points in the second quarter.
“We put more pressure on them so we got more points. It really gave us a big boost,” said Laurel of the comeback charge. “We really wanted to win.”
The startling turn of events forced the Gators to regroup and refocus.
“It’s tough when they come back like that but at halftime in the change room our coaches talked to us about putting all of our effort into the second half,” Cooke said.
The Gators responded with a seven-point run before Brodeur answered with a free throw.
The Falcons continued to press and twice grabbed the lead on shots by Brassard and Noah Manna.
The Gators closed out the quarter with a 5-1 run, highlighted by Roka Phalen-Baker’s three pointer and Holmes’ basket off a nifty feed by Cooke to make it 43-40.
“We made a big shot (by Phalen-Baker) and that really sparked the momentum and it kept escalating from there until the end,” Cooke said.
Holmes and Cooke both dropped in shots early in the last nine-minute period and Laurel replied with a pair of dazzling scores.
The resilient Falcons pulled to within two of the Gators as Laurel converted two free throws, followed by his end-to-end dashing layup with 2:36 to go.
It was 50-48 Gators when Neuls deposited an offensive rebound and Carter Stock of the Falcons would later match the score with 1:57 left.
The third basket of the quarter by Neuls, off a bing-bang-boom passing play down the court to the wide-open Grade 9 post restored the four-point spread with 70 seconds remaining.
“We just kept pushing as hard as we can and leaving it all on the floor,” Neuls said of the determined Gators. “It really helped too when we tried to slow the game down and run our plays like we’ve been trying to do the whole game and it created a lot of good looks and it got us some points.”
The Falcons were stifled offensively with time running out.
“We just missed a few shots. If we could’ve made them we could’ve taken the lead,” Laurel said. “In the end we got tired a little bit too.”
Laurel, 15, produced eight of his 14 points in the fourth quarter and Brassard finished the game with 13 points for the 8-2 Falcons.
The Gators buckled down with time running out to hold the Falcons in check.
“We locked down on defence and I really think that’s what won us the game,” Cooke added. ‘It was a tough game but the team really pulled through at the end.”
Cooke, 14, strung together 12 points while running the plays as the team’s floor general despite leg cramps in the fourth quarter.
Holmes added 12 points and his last one was a free throw with 22.6 seconds to play to wrap up the scoring.
Neuls collected 11 points with his biggest scores coming in the last quarter as the Gators completed their second 10-0 undefeated SAPEC season in style.
“A win is a win so both are pretty great,” Cooke said of the back-to-back championships. “It’s an awesome feeling. I’m really proud of the team and all they’ve been through and everything we’ve done to get to this moment. It’s amazing.”
Visit www.stalbertgazette.com to view the Gators’ championship picture.
Two years ago, the Gators beat the Falcons, who were undefeated going into the final, 67-56, and last year’s repeat was 44-39 over the Vincent J. Maloney Marauders.
“It’s definitely sweet for us as a school because it’s three wins in a row now,” Cooke said of the championship run for the boys’ basketball program.
The Gators graduate 10 players off their 12-man roster.
“There are a lot of guys on the team that are in Grade 9 and they won’t get another chance at winning it again so winning this year was really nice for all of us to do it together for the school,” said Neuls, 14, one of five returning players from last year’s championship team.
