It was not the kind of weekend either Westlock team wanted to have.
Competing in the 2014 edition of the W.J. Kallal Memorial tournament at Saint Mary, both the Saint Mary senior Sharks and the R.F. Staples junior varsity Thunderbirds had tough outings, culminating in a showdown for seventh place in the eight-team tournament.
When the final buzzer had sounded, the Sharks laid claim to seventh place after recording a 96-30 win.
“This isn’t where we wanted to be,” said Sharks coach Darcy Romanuik.
The Sharks’ road to seventh place was littered with near misses; a few bounces going their way or playing a full 40-minute game and they could have easily been playing for the championship.
Their opening game was against J.R. Robson, which ended in a 64-62 loss on late basket. It was a game Romanuik thought would have gone to overtime had it not been for that late basket.
Game two came against Gerald Redmond, and ended as a 60-57 loss.
Romanuik said that game came down to the Sharks not having anything go right for them on either offence or defence in the first half, which ended 43-19 for Gerald Redmond.
“I’ll give them credit, they battled back to make it a one-point game with 30 seconds left,” he said.
He added he told his players they need to play a full game, not just the 15 minutes they played in that game.
“It was a big mountain to climb, and they almost did it,” he said.
The Sharks’ third game was against the R.F. Staples JV team, which entered the game on the heels of a 74-11 loss to Onoway and an 82-30 loss to Boyle.
Playing to avoid coming in last at their home tournament, the Sharks roared out of the gate, generating turnovers and continually increasing their lead en route to coming up four points shy of triple digits.
The 96-30 win was a bit of redemption in an otherwise disappointing weekend for the hosts.
Despite the result, Romanuik said the weekend wasn’t a waste.
“They’re a young team and they’re learning through adversity,” he said.
Next up for the Sharks is a trip down to Hay Lakes for a tournament on Feb. 14-15.
On Feb. 21-22, the girls Sharks play host to the 2014 Cathy Mitchell Cup.
