R.F. Staples senior boys basketball team ended their season in dramatic fashion Saturday with a 94-90 OT win.
The T-Birds thrilling extra-time triumph over the Parkland Composite High School Pacers at the 3A high school zone championships in Morinville March 13-14 secured them the consolation title.
Coach Jon Hutchison said the victory was a fitting end to the season and allowed a trio of seniors to end their high school careers on a high.
The T-Birds trailed the entire first half before chipping away at Parkland’s single-digit lead. In the fourth quarter both squads traded points, and the lead, before ending regulation knotted 79-79.
In the extra five minutes the T-Birds wouldn’t be denied.
“It’s tough at zones because it’s one and done. If you don’t win the first one you’re pretty much hooped,” said Hutchison. “But I told them before the final let’s end the season on a high note.”
Hutchison said the club’s tournament-opening Friday-afternoon 62-55 loss to the Morinville Wolves is one they’d like to have back. The loss knocked the T-Birds to the consolation side of the bracket, which they went on to dominate posting a 72-51 win over Athabasca and the consolation final triumph over Parkland.
“It was a little disheartening. I think we should have done better than what we did. We should have beat Morinville. I think we just buckled a little under the pressure,” said Hutchison.
Looking back on the year, which included one tournament title and a handful of medals from tourneys across the province, Hutchison said his club continued to grow and mature.
“We learned a lot and played a lot of games. I think we played 25 or 26 games and some years we’ve only played 15. They got a lot of good experience,” Hutchison said.
Hutchison said he’ll probably be back as head coach as next year will mark his 10th at the helm. Regardless, the T-Birds have a nice core of Grade 10s and 11s who will be featured prominently on 2015-2016 T-Birds.
“I always want to build year upon year upon year. I only have three that are leaving and have six Grade 10s ... we’re going to have a strong team next year. We’re the only team in the zone that had six Grade 10s. These Grade 10s we have coming up are going to be beasts.”
The R.F. Staples senior girls basketball team beat their rivals from Barrhead but were unable to pull out a second win during the 3A zone championship in Athabasca March 13-14.
Coach Rod Carlyon noted that they were ranked fifth in the zone going into the tournament and their first match on Friday was against the fourth-ranked team, Barrhead Composite.
“We were anticipating it would be a close game,” he said, noting they had played close matches during their previous meet-ups this season.
The T-Birds got off to a slow start with Barrhead gaining a small lead, but R.F. Staples put on full court pressure and forced Barrhead to give them some turnovers.
They were up by 12 points at half time and were able to keep up the pressure, ultimately winning 51-31, he said.
In the second game, they faced off against the top-ranked team in the zone, Morinville.
Carlyon noted they had only played Morinville once this season and knew them to be a very fast and aggressive team.
“They started out with lots of ball pressure, got lots of turnovers on us,” he said. “We just couldn’t hold it in there.”
The first quarter ended 25-3 in Morinville’s favour. Though R.F. Staples gained a little ground, Morinville was basically able to maintain a lead of 18 to 20 points throughout the match, which ended in a loss for the T-Birds.
Their final game on Saturday was against Edson. They were the No. 2 ranked team in the zone, but for some reason, they were weak against Athabasca and had been bumped into the bronze meal match.
“That game was back and forth,” said Carlyon, noting they were tied in the middle of the third quarter.
By the fourth quarter, the T-Birds ran out of gas, he said, and Edson ended up winning the match.
“We had lots of shots, but the girls were getting tired. Too many giveaways and bad passes happened,” he said.
Though the girls weren’t able to win the zone banner, at the end of the day, they came into the tournament ranked fifth and “we walked out fourth,” said Carlyon.
