Hosts leave no doubt in win
The McCoy Colts were nothing short of dominant in Friday’s 58-31 victory over Moose Jaw’s Peacock Collegiate Toilers at the Super South boys varsity basketball tournament.
The Colts set a staggering pace right out of the gate by running up a 19-3 lead through the first quarter before controlling the flow en route to a 2-0 start as co-hosts of the tournament.
“The defence has been good. Our interior defence has been awesome all weekend and our shooting, it was all dropping,” said Colts guard Francis Villar. “We stayed aggressive and got the win.”
While the Toilers brought a much stronger effort to the floor in the second half, narrowing the gap down its smallest point of the evening at 13, McCoy dug in and stole back the momentum at the tail end of the third quarter before running away with the game in the fourth.
Villar led the Colts with 21 points while Chayce Davies added 12 more. Shae Zwozdesky led Peacock with nine points in the loss, leaving them at 0-2 in the tournament.
Villar added what the Colts lack in height they make up for in communication and team play, which was evidenced in Friday’s lopsided victory.
“We’re a short team, we’ve got one guy who’s like 6-foot-4 but that’s about it,” said Villar, adding it makes ball movement and control pivotal to the team’s success. “The ball has to go around to everyone in order to make space.”
In other Super South action, the Eagle Butte Talons fell to 1-1 in a big way when they ran into Moose Jaw’s Central Collegiate Cyclones. Eight members of the Cyclones registered at least 10 points in a 127-67 runaway led by 18 points from Jaxson Bromwell and 17 more out of both Riley Seaborn and Kyle Boughan. The win puts the Cyclones at 2-0 in the tournament.
Triston Duscherer led Eagle Butte with 19 points in the loss and Aidan McLean added 16 more.
The co-host Crescent Heights Vikings slipped to 0-2 with an 88-49 loss to the Canmore Composite Crusaders.
Connor Stock led the Vikings with 14 points and Chris Gilliam posted 12 in the loss. Canmore’s Malcolm Rogers finished with a game-high 18 points, pushing the Crusaders to 1-1.
The Colts will aim to lock up a place in the final when they close out the group stage Saturday at 9:45 a.m. against Beaumont Composite. Over at Crescent Heights, the Vikings will close out their group stage at the same time against Central Collegiate and the Talons take on Canmore Collegiate at 11:30 a.m.
The championship game is set for 6 p.m. Saturday at McCoy. The third-place game will be played at the same time at Crescent Heights.
Junior varsity
In the junior varsity tournament, Hat High improved to 2-0 in a 97-31 landslide victory over Beaumont Composite, Crescent Heights slipped 0-2 with a 71-46 loss to the Strathmore Spartans, McCoy fell to 1-1 in a 67-49 setback to Crescent Heights of Calgary and Eagle Butte dropped to 0-2 with a 73-23 loss to Catholic Central.
McCoy, Crescent Heights and Hat High close out their junior varsity group stage Saturday at 8 a.m. with the latter two playing at Crescent Heights, followed by Eagle Butte’s final round robin game at 9:45 a.m.
The junior varsity final is set for Saturday at 4:15 p.m.