The Bellerose Bulldogs are savouring the sweet taste of success in high school men’s basketball.
The Bulldogs are licking their lips at 3-0 in league play and 7-3 overall after devouring the Sturgeon Spirits 67-50 in Wednesday’s metro Edmonton division two pool B contest at Bellerose.
“We’re hungry. We want to win because we haven’t won a lot in the past couple of years,” said captain Ben Jones-Petrecca. “The season is very promising. None of the league games have really been too close, so I think we can go out there and win every game. There is no reason why we should lose.
“Right now our ceiling is really high.”
The last two seasons in the ultra-competitive division one, the Bulldogs have won three and lost 25 while finishing 14th out of 16 teams in 2014/15 and 14th as the last-place team in 2015-16.
The only league victory last season was the wild and wacky 83-77 Battle of St. Albert against the Paul Kane Blues (2-11) on Seniors Night at Bellerose and the 2-13 showing the previous campaign marked the first time the Bulldogs won a metro game since going 4-8 in the 2011/12 city conference, which is now division two.
“We’re happy because Bellerose hasn’t had a good past in basketball really, losing a lot in div one, and now we’ve come down to div two and we’re just busting (butt),” said Hudson Olson, a six-foot-six Grade 11 Bulldog.
Division two is where the Bulldogs belong after being outclassed at the top level in metro basketball.
“We could play in division one but playing in division two gives us the best chance to win a championship for sure,” said Jones-Petrecca, a six-foot-four Grade 12 guard/forward. “We have a lot more confidence right now. We feel like we’re going to do well and we’re going to win.”
Wednesday’s result was the fourth win in a row, starting with the last two Rise Up games in the consolation bracket before Monday’s 105-81 thrashing of the host Ardrossan Bisons (1-1).
“We’re progressing,” Olson said. “It’s like coach (Don Phillips) said, every time we step on the court we’ve got to get better.”
The tenacious Bulldogs bring size, skill and speed to the court.
“We’re a team, that’s the biggest thing,” Olson said. “We don’t have one player that does it all.”
The Bulldogs spread the offence around against Sturgeon (1-2) with several players stepping up to score points in bunches.
“We played as a team,” Olson said. “We dished the ball and the bench played well.”
Last week’s 93-53 throttling of the visiting Austin O’Brien Crusaders (0-2) in league play symbolized the team’s potential.
“That was one of our best games. In the first half we were up by 30 and we just kept it going,” Jones-Petrecca said. “We knew what it was like to start off hot after that.”
A few days later at Rise Up, the Bulldogs knocked off the Crusaders 93-69 after losing the tournament opener 74-71 to the division one Spruce Grove Panthers (0-3).
The Bulldogs went on to win the consolation final 73-58 against the division two pool A Memorial Marauders (1-1), the same team they lost to at home 67-63 in the Dec. 5 exhibition.
“That tournament gave us momentum coming back into league play,” Jones-Petrecca said.
It took the Bulldogs a few minutes to get the ball rolling against Sturgeon after falling behind by nine early. A nine-point run tied it at 17 before Sturgeon finished the first quarter with a free throw to regain the lead at 18-17.
Four Bulldogs tacked up points in the opening 10 minutes, with Jones-Petrecca paving the way with six.
Sturgeon threatened to run away from the Bulldogs during a nine-point scoring spree to start the second quarter before Bellerose called a timeout with 6:49 to go.
After the pep talk by coach Phillips, the Bulldogs responded with 10 unanswered points, triggered by Gurshan Badesha’s three-ball, and Jones-Petrecca’s bucket knotted it at 27 with 65 seconds left.
Sturgeon regained the lead with a free throw before Olson’s field goal with 18 seconds remaining ended the first half with the Bulldogs on top 29-28.
“We started off really slow today. We let them hang around in the first half but we came out in the second half and close it out,” said Jones-Petrecca, who posted eight of his nine points in the first half.
The Bulldogs outscored Sturgeon 19-7 during a frenzied third quarter of lengthy stretches of glaring misses by both teams.
Three-pointers by a trio of Bulldogs in the last 3:51 minutes during a run of 15 consecutive points sunk the Spirits.
Olson’s offensive rebound off an unsuccessful three-ball by Badesha with five seconds left before quarter time made it 48-35.
“In the second half we came alive and started shooting the ball well,” said Jones-Petrecca, 17.
The biggest bucket was Olson’s one-handed thunderous dunk two minutes into the last quarter to put the Bulldogs up 55-40.
“When Hudson came down and dunked on that kid, it gave us a boost” Jones-Petrecca said. “Coming into that fourth quarter I think we were kind of tired and it was still a toss-up but that gave us a little bit of extra momentum and extra energy.”
After rattling the rim with authority, Olson sprinted back down the floor while pumping his fist in celebration front of the stands as the Bellerose fans hooted and hollered in delight.
“I thought it was a dagger,” Olson said. “They thought they were going to come back and that dunk just sealed the deal. It was over.”
Sturgeon head coach Tim Spenrath wasn’t amused and cleared his throat over the play during a timeout.
“It’s embarrassing because we have zero intensity,” Spenrath told his players in a loud voice after comparing the levels of intensity as through the roof for the Bulldogs and under the floor for Sturgeon.
After the timeout, Badesha popped in the second of his three three-balls, followed by his slick move around the hoop for a basket to extend the lead to 60-40 with 5:47 to play.
“It was a good game. We fought and we came back when it mattered,” said Olson, 16.
The Bulldogs drained 10 threes overall and Dawson Murray’s 11 points included three of them.
Badesha also registered 11 points, Olson picked up eight and Austin Thiessen added seven.
Sturgeon was led by Tyler Holden’s 12 points and 10 apiece for Noah Bohaychuck, Sam Kaup and its big man, Marcel Friemann.
Daniel Ward of the Bulldogs was stellar defensively covering Sturgeon’s top players.
This weekend the Bulldogs are competing at the Queen Elizabeth High School tournament.
