Central to face Peacock for boys basketball championship

Heading into the current Moose Jaw High School Boys Basketball League season, it was all but assured that the top three teams in the league were going to be in for a battle whenever they faced one another. And sure enough, that was the case – especially when the Peacock Toilers and Vanier Vikings were on the court. It was no different in the league semifinal, where the Toilers used an impressive fourth quarter to pull off a 74-62 win over the Vikings The other semifinal saw the Central Cyclones take a 103-64 win over the Caronport Cougars.

Through three quarters, the Toilers and Vikings found themselves separated by only two points, with Peacock holding a 56-54 lead.

It was at that point that a slight alteration in strategy – and Peacock’s deeper bench – turned the tide once and for all.

“We switched to zone in the fourth quarter and that really changed it for us,” said Toilers forward Jett Kowalchuk, who had 14 points in the contest, including eight on free throws as Peacock closed out the game. “And Payton Chow had a huge game without fouling too, he was able to hold Ronald to only a few points, which is really hard to do against him.” “Ronald” being Vanier’s dynamic guard Ronald Nyekowat, who alongside Ryan Stefanovic and Riley Follensbee formed a dangerous three-headed monster from the outside for the Vikings all season. Chow ended up holding Nyekowat to only two points while putting up 24 of his own; Stefanovic led all scorers with 31 points, including five three-pointers in the second half. Follensbee contributed 18.

“We had a couple of really good runs in the first half and a really good run in the third quarter and then just ran out of gas at the end... by the end of the game everyone was on the ground cramping up, so we really gave it our all,” Stefanovic said. “It could have been a shot here or there where if we made it... so we were close. Would have nice to get to cities, but we just couldn’t quite do it.”

The Toilers led 22-19 after the first quarter and 38-31 at half and in the process were able to largely match the Vikings stride for stride until they were able to pull away. “Vanier is a momentum team and they can go on runs and hit shots, so it was just mental toughness and we tried to play through and stay focussed,” Kowalchuk said. Riley Herridge returned from injury and put up 12 points for the Toilers.

There were no such dramatics in the other semifinal, as the Cyclones picked where they left off after their unbeaten regular season and put together a commanding win.

Grade 11 guard Riley Seaborn scored 34 points to lead Central.

“\We played good team defence, we moved the ball really well and shot the open shots, made the open shots... we played hard and made the shots we had to make,” Seaborn said in assessing his squad’s performance. Central came into the contest as the heavy favourite and gave Caronport few chances to get back into the game, something they were plenty wary of having happen. “It’s easier being the underdog because you have no pressure on yourself and you just have to go out and play. Sometimes when you’re higher in the seed you play tighter... but we played good defence, didn’t let them back in the game.” Next up was the city final and another battle with the cross-town rival Toilers. “We just have to play good defence once again and get the job done,” Seaborn said. “You never know what they can bring... we’ll have to play hard.”

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The Cougars didn’t let the semifinal loss carry over into a crucial set of weekend games – the conference playdowns. And as hosts of one of the 2A boys tournaments, they showed just how much playing in the Moose Jaw league can benefit a lower-enrollment team. Caronport rolled to a 93-80 win over Harvest City to earn their regional berth, and then crushed Southey 108-59 in the conference final.

The Riverview Royals didn’t have quite as much luck as hosts of a 3A boys conference tournament as they fell 81-54 to the Assiniboia Rockets in the regional qualifying game. Clavet downed Assiniboia 102-63 in the conference final.