The St. Mary Sharks senior boys’ basketball team netted silver at a major central Alberta basketball tournament this weekend, losing out to the hosts in the final.
The St. Mary team attended the Quad School Tournament, which is named for the fact that the event is split over four different communities (Tofield, Ryley, Hay Lakes and Bawlf).
Coach Darcy Romanuik said their games on Friday and Saturday were held in Hay Lakes and Tofield respectively.
Romanuik noted this is a pretty major tournament as it draws many teams from the “upper echelons” of the 1A and 2A categories.
In their first match, the Sharks went up against St. Jerome’s Catholic School from Vermilion, one of the top 15 teams in the province for their category.
“That was the game we really wanted to win ... a win over a top-ranked club would get us into the Top 15 provincial rankings,” he said.
Sure enough, St. Mary managed to down their Vermilion opponents by a score of 70-53. Although they won’t know for sure until the next provincial rankings are released, Romanuik said they are now likely ranked amongst the top teams in the province.
Their next game was against Ashmont Secondary School, who they’ve had some tough games with in the past, noted Romanuik.
This time, St. Mary pulled out a 55-40 victory over Ashmont. Romanuik said it was a “great win” for their team.
The Sharks’ downfall came in the final versus Tofield. St. Mary put in a “horrendous” first quarter, said Romanuik, noting that Tofield seemed to sink every basket and the Sharks seemed to miss everything.
“We couldn’t hit the ocean from the pier in the first quarter,” he joked.
To their credit, the St. Mary boys never gave up, and while they lost 76-36, Romanuik said they were definitely not out-worked.
“They have two guards that are pretty amazing. We thought we had a good defensive plan (to handle them), and they were sinking two and three pointers like there was no tomorrow,” he said.
On Friday and Saturday, Feb. 6-7, the boys will host a two-day tournament at the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre.
This will be the first time they have held a tournament exclusively at the Spirit Centre.
Romanuik said they play their first game on Friday at 4 p.m. and the event goes until 7 p.m. Games will then run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.
