BEC Bears make history
‘It almost feels like it was written ahead of time’
NEW WATERFORD — As the seconds ticked off the clock at Breton Education Centre, it wasn’t hard to tell who was winning the 40th edition of the New Waterford Coal Bowl Classic.
A jam-packed crowd of an estimated 1,000 rose to its feet and begins to sing that famous chorus from Steam’s 1969 classic “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” — meaning, “Na na na na, na na na na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye” — as members of the hometown BEC Bears stood by the bench waiting to run onto the court.
When the horn sounded, Bears players shared hugs near the centre of the iconic school gym. The reality well and truly set in: BEC captured its second consecutive Coal Bowl Classic high school basketball title with a 111-91 victory over the Hants East Tigers of Milford Station, N.S.
To make the back-to-back victories — the first in the high school basketball team’s history — even more special, it was the final championship game at the current BEC gym before the tournament moves to the adjacent new school for 2025, currently under construction and set to open this fall.
‘LAST GAME EVER IN THIS GYM’
“It almost feels like it was written ahead of time,” said Bears graduating player Luke MacKinnon, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
“We went into (Saturday) knowing that we had an opportunity to do something that couldn’t be done in 40 years. The last game ever in this gym and to think that we won it on home court in front of the community, it’s an unreal feeling.”
MacKinnon was part of the Bears team that won the title in February 2023. He said this year’s title had a different feeling compared to his first.
“Last year, it was something I had dreamed of since I was a kid and I was unfortunate that it happened,” said MacKinnon, who played on this year’s team with his younger brother, Jake.
“We knew we had to take care of business and that there was history on the line and we came out on the court and made it happen and won it.”
‘HARD TO KEEP IN THE EMOTION’
Like MacKinnon, Tyson Crosby had the chance to win the tournament title last year and wrapped up his high school basketball career on Saturday with the Bears.
“With it being the last year of the school and all our parents and family here to see us, it’s really hard to keep in the emotion,” said Crosby, wiping tears from his eyes.
“There was a bit of nerves in the room before the game and before the pre-game meeting, but our coach told us we needed to turn the nerves into excitement and get ready to perform and we did it.”
Jaxon Durando had the hot hand for the Bears, dropping a team-high 28 points. Cohen McDonald had 22 points and MacKinnon recorded 20 points.
For the Tigers, Ben Robson had a game-high 29 points while Kasey Cox netted 26 points and Brennan MacKinnon notched 15 points.
‘TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS’
Like the majority of the week, the Bears never trailed in the game, scoring early and often on their way to the victory.
BEC led Hants East 30-24 after the first quarter and 59-48 at halftime, but it was the third quarter where the Bears pulled away, scoring an impressive 40 points and allowing 10 against to lead 99-58 going into the final quarter.
While please with the club’s offence, MacKinnon said the team wasn’t happy with its first half defensively.
“We went into the room and coach Carter (Brown) basically told us that our defence sucked, and he was right,” he said. “We gave up 48 points and that’s more than we gave up in the first half all week.
“As a team, we got hyped up, we had the crowd behind us, and we knew were going to score. We had to go out there and stop them from scoring, take care of business and we ended up going on a 40-to-10 run.”
Going into the championship game, both BEC and Hants East had been undefeated with matching 5-0 records.
The Bears cruised through the Janet Morrison Division with wins over Charlottetown (101-43), St. Mary’s Catholic of Alberta (88-61), Juvénat Notre-Dame of Quebec (69-54) and South Colchester (84-61).
In the semifinal game, BEC downed the Horton Griffins of Wolfville 73-53 to secure their spot in the championship game.
‘JUST A MATURE GROUP’
Bears head coach Carter Brown said the experience of winning the tournament last year helped the players going into the event.
“They knew what it took to win a championship,” he said. “They ate properly and had proper sleep and I think they took it a lot more serious than the other teams — they’re just a mature group at the end of the day and I’m really proud of them.”
As for the Tigers, they walked through the Ian MacIsaac Division with victories over École Secondaire MontSaint-Sacrement of Quebec (86-74), Westisle Composite of P.E.I. (87-64), Memorial of Sydney Mines (108-65) and Horton (78-73)
Hants East won the semifinal game 84-75 over Juvénat Notre-Dame to punch their ticket to a championship meeting with the Bears.
It’s been a roller-coaster ride for the Bears over the last two months.
The Coal Bowl Classic was originally scheduled to take place the first week in February, but the event was ultimately cancelled after more than 150cm of snow fell on the Cape Breton Regional Municipality the weekend before the start of the tournament.
Shortly after the initial cancellation, organizers announced the tournament would take place in April, marking the final event at the current BEC school.
Later in the month, the Bears secured their spot in the School Sport Nova Scotia provincial championship tournament, beating the Memorial Marauders in the Highland Region final.
Unfortunately, the Bears never did play in the provincial tournament; the team was involved in a motor vehicle accident on Route 4 near East Bay on March 1 while travelling to Wolfville for the event. Everyone was OK.
“Kudos to those guys,” said Brown. “It was a big mental block for us to go through and for them to be able to stick with it throughout the month and take it on themselves to do the right things and be there for each other and eventually win, that’s special.”
FINAL HIGH SCHOOL CONTEST
One person not in the Bears lineup on Saturday was graduating player Loghan LeBlanc. He missed the game to attend the All Atlantic Game, an event that showcases high school basketball players from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, P.E.I., and Newfoundland and Labrador in Halifax.
On the court, LeBlanc had a successful final tournament. The Lambton College recruit was very much part of the team’s offence during the week and dropped eight points in the semifinal game on Friday night.
Along with MacKinnon, Crosby and LeBlanc, the championship game also marked the final high school contest for the Bears’ Eric Rutledge, who along with Emily Burke of the Bears’ girls’ team, was given the Mike Kennedy Award.
Aside from MacKinnon and Rutledge, other major award winners saw Hants East’s Daniel Quinn named the leading scorer, while St. Mary’s Catholic teammates Jake Van Roesell (heart and hustle award) and John Van Uden (leadership award) also received honours.
Memorial’s Kieran Carroll earned the sportsmanship award while Juvenat NotreDame’s Louis-David Gagnon was presented with the spirit award.
The first all-star team featured Cohen McDonald (BEC), Jaxon Durando (BEC), Cameron Davenport (Horton), Ben Robson (Hants East) and Edouard Beaubien (Juvénat Notre-Dame).
The second all-star team included Jax Killen (South Colchester), Gabe Ing (Charlottetown), Kasey Cox (Hants East), Idriss Lellouche (École Secondaire Mont-SaintSacrement) and Brock Bring (Westisle Composite).
In the consolation game, Juvénat Notre-Dame defeated Horton 64-43.
Beaudien led the way with a game-high 17 points for Juvénat Notre-Dame. Akeem Gray had 14 points for Horton.
The Coal Bowl Classic will return to its regular February tournament in 2025. Dates for that event were not confirmed at publication time.