MOOSE JAW — The meeting Feb. 4, between the Central Cyclones and South Hill Royal Eagles is a tale of two games.
The first quarter saw South Hill take a surprising 24 - 20 after 10 minutes.
South Hill would seemingly pound in field goal after field goal led by five three pointers by Wyatt Craik in the first quarter.
But the short benched Royal Falcons, who dressed only eight players due to illness, ran out of gas midway through the second quarter as the full-roster Cyclones took over the lead and never looked back.
The first quarter saw the Central Cyclones off to a slow start with the team failing to put their hands up allowing South Hill to score six field goals.
The score at the end of the quarter was South Hill 24 and Central 20.
The second quarter leaned in the Cyclones’ favour after a pep talk between quarters and the short-benched Royal Falcons noticeably at the 6:30 mark started to run out of steam.
The Cyclones would respond with a 14-point second half by Garrit Gulutzan who would not only battle and break for the basket but also show his prowess from three-point land.
The score at the half was Central 55 and South Hill 35.
The third quarter saw the Cyclones continue to control the game.
There were some bright moments for the Royal Falcons as their defence kept the Cyclones from increasing their lead even more.
The fourth quarter saw Central’s S. Suliman score 12 points.
Final score Central Cyclones 100 and South Hill Royal Falcons 62.
Despite the loss there were a lot of smiles on the South Hill bench including Royal Falcons head coach Kalen Senecal.
Senecal saw the game played by the Royal Falcons as a solid effort — especially Wyatt Craig’s seemingly uncanny ability to make three pointers.
Asked how it felt to turn in a strong game against the reigning provincial 4A champions — Central Cyclones —Senecal said he was happy.
For Central Cyclones head coach Barry Seaborn the team had a slow start and shooting allowed the Royal Falcons to lead for the opening 10 minutes.
Shooting was key for South Hill Seaborn said.
The longer bench for Central allowed the team to get more players onto the court.
Overall the Cyclones put in a good effort, he said.
The Cyclones’ win combined with the Peacock Toilers loss to Swift Current earlier in the evening has created a log jam for first place in Moose Jaw senior boys’ league play.
Swift Current, Central and Peacock are now all tied for first place with 5 - 1 records.
