The St. Mary senior boys basketball team were gold en after posting a perfect 2-0 record at the North Central Zone Ranking Tournament at the Rotary Spirit Centre Jan. 9-10.
The Sharks pulled off a come-from-behind victory over Thorsby and went straight to the finals where they defeated Slave Lake’s St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy 60-55 in a game that came down to the final possession.
Coach Darcy Romanuik said he was pleased to see his team come together and continue to improve.
“It’s baby steps, we’re still not where we want to be, however when you do win a tournament, I’m happy with the direction we’re going,” he said.
“It was a good weekend.”
In their opening game, the boys posted a 64-52 win over Thorsby. The Sharks erased a 10-point, second-quarter deficit to lead at half time and never looked back.
“I commend the kids for coming back and facing adversity,” Romanuik said.
“That game was kind of funny because we had a horrendous start, we took over the game, we had the game, gave it back to them, come back and take the game back.
“And I commend them for that because in any sport it’s tough to do that, and they did that, I thought, quite well.”
With the victory the team earned a finals berth where they tipped off against the St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy Falcons.
In a tightly-matched, the Sharks held on for the win in a game that saw the teams separated by only three points in the final minute.
“I can honestly say it was a great team effort,” he said.
“When we were running our offence and doing what we wanted to do by moving the offence around, passing the ball around the perimeter and creating chances, I think that was key.”
Coupled with strong defensive play, Romanuik said his team was able to limit scoring chances for their opponent.
“When we box out and you get the ball you limit them to one chance, maybe not two or three chances,” he said.
Ultimately, Romanuik said he’s hopeful the finals win will pave the way to more tournament success this year.
“Last year we had a lot of bridesmaids where we can’t win that championship game,” Romanuik said.
“Maybe by winning this game we keep on building at that and hopefully it’s a good stepping stone for future tournaments.”
