R.F. Staples senior boys basketball team posted a perfect weekend at the Barrhead Composite High School Basketball Tournament, capping the event with a big win over the hosts in the Saturday-night final.
It was a nail-biter then went right down to the final buzzer as the T-Birds edged out the Gryphons 73-67.
“That’s always the rivalry game,” said R.F. Staples coach Jon Hutchison on Sunday.
And the quest to defeat Barrhead has been a long, hard road this season. Last weekend at a tournament in Athabasca, the T-Birds lost to Barrhead.
“It’s been tough to beat them,” coach Hutchison continued.
“They’ve got a lot more height than us, but the last win here was a long time coming, and it was nice to do it on their own court.”
As a strategy to cope with Barrhead’s size, Hutchison has been ramping up conditioning at practice.
“We want to increase the tempo,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of athletes that can run for the full 40 minutes.
“They (the boys) don’t like it very much, but they know that’s what they have to do to succeed.”
The first game the T-Birds played in Barrhead was against Onoway High School, and Westlock won by 30 points.
In the second game, R.F. Staples rolled over Warburg 110-38.
Hutchison says the tournament victory gives the team some much-needed confidence as they’re set to square off versus some provincially-ranked teams at a Wetaskawin tournament next weekend.
Then on Feb. 27, the T-Birds are set to square off at home versus Barrhead.
Zones will be held at R.F. Staples March 8-9.
The senior girls were also at the same Barrhead tournament and posted a 1-2 mark. See next week’s News for more.
