You don’t get to the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association provincial basketball championships without knowing how to come back in a game.
So it came as little surprise that despite both 4A boys’ semifinals featuring lopsided scores at one point, things ended up being extremely competitive as things progressed at Peacock on Saturday night.
The good thing for the two local teams involved is you also don’t get to provincials without knowing how to hold a lead.
And as a result, the Central Cyclones and Peacock Toilers will be playing for Hoopla gold on Saturday afternoon.
The top-seeded Cyclones advanced to the title game with a dramatic 91-78 win over the North Battleford John Paul II Crusaders, while the second-seed Toilers took a 68-53 victory over Saskatoon Marion Graham.
Cyclones rally early, hold off charge
It was Central who had to rally early in the first semifinal, as the Crusaders got off to a fast start and built a 10-2 lead before the game was five minutes old. The Cyclones quickly clawed their way back into things, though, getting back to within three 19-16 by the end of the first quarter and thanks to an 11-2 run shortly after the break, led 45-36 at the half.
The lead got to as much as 20 in the third quarter before things turned dramatically -- and Central found themselves hanging on to a 69-92 edge by the time the teams took the court for the final 10 minutes.
By the time 7:30 remained in the proceedings, it was 73-70. But Central outscored North Battleford 13-6 over the next three minutes, once again taking control of the contest before settling for their comfortable victory.
“We definitely had to battle to get this win and it was a good game,” said Cyclones coach Shaun Muchowski. “We played them a couple times earlier in the season and they didn't battle us like did it tonight. They really got after it and they did a good job with their offensive rebounding when we didn’t box out that well. Then we didn't take care of the ball as well as I'd like, we turned it over a few times too many, but it wasn’t a difference-maker… it was just a battle and a good game.”
In the end, the Central defence showed up at the most important points and helped the Cyclones secure their lead once they had it.
“If we play good defence, we're a tough team to beat, so all starts on the defensive end of things for us,” Muchowski said. “If we play good D we can usually get out and run and get some good looks offensively.”
Mo Jabateh turned in an impressive contest, leading all scorers with 32 points, while Ammiel Chin and Mason Muchowski scored 14 each to go song with 12 from Kaedyn Banilevic,
Josh Fransoo scored 18 for John Paul II, Marc Revet added 15 and Declan Mercer 11.
Toilers lead wire-to-wire
There were no such early dramatics for the Toilers, as they blasted out to a 20-4 lead in the game’s first seven minutes and wouldn’t look back, leading wire-to-wire against the Saskatoon small school city champions.
The Falcons made things relatively interesting as the game progressed, getting back to within eight points a few times after Peacock took a 37-27 lead into the half, but the Toilers always found a way to respond.
“It was a great game for us, we had a great start and that was the key we need to come up with,” said Peacock coach Troy Setter. “We knew they weren't going to quit, they’re a good team and we saw some of their scores in the Saskatoon league and how they were always in games, so we knew it was going to be a battle right to the end.”
Seeing his troops regroup the way they did when Marion Graham made things close wasn’t much of a surprise, given his crew’s style of play.
“We got a little hectic, but that's us,” Setter said. “I mean, that's what we do. We play hard and sometimes playing hard like that you turn the ball over a bit too much. We’ve done it all year, but we’ve improved on it and took care of it when we needed to and ended up with the big win.”
Dominick Mall led the Toilers with 18 points, while Bryce Baumann and Mac Simpson had 12 each to go along with 10 from Nathan McDougall.
Lucas Franks was the only Saskatoon player to hit double digits, scoring 17.
All Moose Jaw final
Now, it’s the game everyone had circled on their calendar.
The Cyclones and Toilers will battle for provincial gold at 1 p.m. at Peacock, and both coaches are expecting an entertaining contest.
The title game will mark the third time Peacock and Central have faced off for provincial gold, with Central winning both previous meetings in 2007 and 2008.
“it'll be fun,” Muchowski said. “it'll be a great atmosphere, the gym will be awesome again. Dealing with their bigs is always always a battle and always fun so so yeah, it'll be a good game.”
Setter felt exactly the same way.
“It’s exciting and awesome for Moose Jaw,” he said. “To have two teams in the finals shows that we have some pretty good basketball in town here. I'm proud of our guys for getting there, now we just need to get over that hump and find a way to beat Central.”
Central won all three regular-season meetings between the teams, including a 75-64 victory in the city championship on Mar. 16.
