Cyclones win fourth straight boys basketball title
It wouldn’t be the Moose Jaw High School Athletic Association high school senior boys basketball final if there weren’t some sort of late-game dramatics. And you won’t get much more dramatic than this. Peacock Toilers senior Jett Kowalchuk capped a furious late-game comeback by his squad with a final-seconds three-pointer to tie the championship game with the Central Cyclones 61-61 with five seconds remaining.
It would mark the first time since early in the second quarter that Peacock had managed to pull even in the contest. The Cyclones didn’t let them get any closer to victory, pouring in 20 points in overtime on their way to an 81-67 victory.
The win marked Central’s third-straight senior boys championship.
All fine and well. But the main topic of discussion after the game was the Toilers’ miracle comeback.
“The shots weren’t falling for me the whole game, but the way I play, I just try to play the same way every time and not worry about the shot I took last. All that matters is the next shot,” said Kowalchuck, who had only two points in the game until his pressure trey. “There were a couple options off the play, but when I got the ball I knew I had to shoot it.” Toilers coach Troy Setter was confident his standout forward – Kowalchuk played for Saskatchewan at the Canada Games this past summer – would rise to the occasion at the most important time. “Jett’s a special player,” Setter said. “He has the skills and give Central credit, they did a good job of putting some pressure on him and ‘D’ing him up. He did other things really well for us, he had a great game defensively and rebounding. And he made the one shot that really mattered.” Cyclones Grade 11 Ethan Johnson played a large part in Central holding the lead they did much of the game, as many of his 14 points on the night were run-stopping daggers that swung momentum back in his team’s favour.
Seeing Kowalchuk’s shot go down was tough, but his team’s response made it much easier to take.
“It was really deflating, but we just knew we had to keep working hard and do what we had to do in overtime... we really picked it up and forgot all about that shot and just kept playing our game,” Johnson said.
Overtime was where Central’s vaunted depth rose to the occasion – six different players hit the scoresheet as they took final control of the game.
“We have 12 guys and we had some guys who really stepped up when we needed them to,” said Cyclones coach Ryan Boughen, who saw his team leading 34-26 at half.
“It seems that no matter who plays here, it’s an offensive struggle. So one of the things we talked about is that you have to play good defence because of that. We didn’t shoot the ball really well, and we didn’t shoot enough, so that’s what will happen.... but I thought we played our best in overtime and it ended the way we wanted it to end.”
Leading the way for Peacock throughout the second half and especially in the fourth quarter comeback was senior guard Shae Zwozdesky. Traditionally a defensive stalwart, Zwozdesky put up 17 points in the contest, including three three-pointers in the fourth quarter as the Toilers erased an 11-point deficit.
“I just wanted to play for the win, if I saw my shot, I took it... when you get down by 10 or something it’s tough, but I looked at my teammates and knew we had to win that game,” Zwozdesky said. “So I tried to make shots and get us back in it. We didn’t quite win, but I’m proud of my boys and how they played that game, it was a great game and I’m happy to have been a part of it.”
Central’s Riley Seaborn led all scorers with 18 points, while Kyle Boughen added 14 for the Cyclones, Fharis Ebet 12 and Jaxson Brownell 10.
Payton Chow picked up 10 points for Peacock.