Eleven points.
That was the final margin that separated the R.F. Staples Thunderbirds senior boys basketball team from a trip to the provincial 3A championships.
When the final buzzer rang out to end the North Central Zone tournament in the R.F. Staples gym Saturday evening, the scoreboard read Westlock: 62, Barrhead: 73.
“You can tell Barrhead is a solid, good team,” said T-Birds coach Jon Hutchison. “They have good fundamentals and the only way to beat them is to run the ball, and we didn’t do that enough.”
To lose the zone final on their home court was a bit disappointing, Hutchison said, but at the same time it was the team’s best result in nearly a decade.
Eight years ago the boys won zones and qualified for provincials. That was also the last time the team even played in a zone final, he said.
Things were so bad three years ago that the team didn’t even qualify for the zone tournament in the first place, Hutchison added.
To have progressed in three years from missing the tourney altogether to earning silver shows the program is on the right track.
Hutchison has high hopes the 2013-2014 season can build off this year’s successes — he’s only losing two players from this year’s roster.
“I hope we can turn the next corner and finish it off,” he said.
“It’s doable.”
While losing the tournament final, to a hated rival no less, tends to put a damper on a weekend, Hutchison said the way the emotions were flying, the players should remember this weekend for a while.
“There were lots of highs and lots of lows,” he said.
The T-Birds started the weekend with an evening game on March 8 against Frank Maddock from Drayton Valley.
Although the home side came out on top 72-55, it wasn’t until the second half when it became clear the T-Birds were the stronger team.
In the semifinals, the T-Birds posted a tight 75-72 win over the Morinville Wolves.
“It was a gritty game,” Hutchison said. “I didn’t think we would pull that out.”
After holding a slim, one-point lead at the half, the T-Birds watched as their opponents took control in the third quarter, building a lead that threatened to reach double digits.
A spirited comeback in the late stages of the quarter brought the deficit to only four points heading into the fourth quarter, where the T-Birds dug deep and outscored the Wolves by seven to pull out the win and book their spot in the final against Barrhead.
