SFX Sports Centre – After two years of playing toothless basketball the Bellerose Bulldogs now have bite with the return of Don Phillips as head coach of the varsity men’s team.
The first game back for Phillips was Thursday’s 72-68 loss to the Saint Francis Browns of Calgary at the 17th annual Mike Dea Classic.
The Bulldogs showed flashes of flair, unlike last season when they finished a dismal 0-8 in the metro Edmonton division two pool B standings and a horrific 0-10 in the 2012/13 premier conference.
“We have a lot of potential. We also have a lot of first year talent and as their bodies start to mature and they learn the system we’re going to be tough to contend with in a year or two,” Phillips told the Gazette after his first high school game as a head coach since the 2008 4A provincial final, when he guided the Paul Kane Blues to their first provincial championship in school history, 67-62 over the Foothills Falcons of Okotoks in Calgary.
“We have some pretty good seniors but unfortunately they played in systems where they didn’t pick up on small things. They just weren’t taught, so they’re like Grade 10s themselves. They’re like first year players so it’s like I have a team full of Grade 10s,” added Phillips.
His 14-man roster of six Grade 12s, two Grade 11s and six Grade 10s is an interesting collection of returning players, junior graduates and a variety of newcomers, including Grade 11 Paul Kane transfer student Darryl Broderick, plus Liam Townsend and Reecze Warren, co-captains of the 2014 SAPEC Tier 1 city champion Vincent J. Maloney Marauders.
The Bulldogs will hoop it up in Division 1, which should heat up the Battle of St. Albert between Bellerose and Paul Kane, where Phillips coached the Blues to back-to-back metro Edmonton premier championships and consecutive trips to the 4A provincial final in 2007 and 2008 during his two-year tenure before a stint with the NAIT Ooks in the Alberta Colleges’ Athletic Conference.
Thursday marked the first step in the right direction for the fledging Bellerose basketball program. After the loss to the Browns – it actually should have been a two-point deficit but a Bellerose basket late in the game wasn’t posted on the scoreboard over confusion between the referees and the student scorekeepers at the minor officials’ table – the Bulldogs beat the Sturgeon Heights Huskies of Winnipeg 79-65 in the consolation quarter-finals. Bellerose newcomer Abner Monteiro, a Grade 12 guard/forward, led the charge with 22 points and 11 rebounds.
“It’s going to be a process but like I said it’s like I have a team full of first year players and that’s OK. They’re trying to digest what we’re trying to teach them and the big thing is to value the ball. It’s the most important thing on the court and I don’t think we really value it right now. It’s more like we’re playing fun basketball. You’ve got to value the ball. You can’t expect someone is going to let you grab the rebound and not contest it or let you shoot a shot and not contest it. It’s competitive sports. You’ve got to compete,” Phillips said.
The Bulldogs gave the Browns a run for their money but let the win slip away in the fourth quarter after trailing 45-41 with 10 minutes to play.
“We should’ve won that game handily,” said Broderick, a high-energy point guard who drained 20 points. “We played hard. We’re going to have a good season if we work on our fundamentals more and finish those easy layups.”
At halftime it was 27-26 Bellerose on the strength of seven three-pointers, including three by Sam McColman, a Grade 12 guard/forward who played for Bellerose last season.
The Bulldogs sank 13 threes overall.
“We had a lot of three pointers in the beginning and a lot of open shots. We’re a shooting team and we’re going to use the perimeter for sure against other teams,” said Broderick, who fired a pair of threes in the second half. “We just missed some easy layups and that cost us.”
Broderick, 16, was the best Bellerose player on the floor against the Browns. When asked whey he switched schools after playing hoops for the senior Blues in Grade 10, the standout Bellerose football player replied: “It’s close walking distance (from home).”
Phillips described the result as a double-edged sword.
“You know me, I’m not satisfied with moral victories but we showed some potential and there were definitely some negatives. We hit some shots but at the same token we missed at least 11 or 12 layups. There were little things like we would grab the rebound and think it’s nice guy basketball and allowed the other team to come up and grab it or we would throw the ball away. It’s just a lack of instincts,” said the Bellerose teacher.
The result of Friday night’s consolation semifinal determined if the Bulldogs play today at 10 a.m. for 11th place or 2 p.m. for ninth place.
Visit www.hooplife.forumotion.ca or Fxramsmensbball on Facebook for results in the 16-team draw.
