Potoma paces Campbell to beat Redmen in final
The identity of the most valuable player was a foregone conclusion after the closing game of the 29th annual Balfour Junior Basketball Classic.
Tyrese Potoma was the obvious choice after he scored 37 points Saturday to help the Campbell Tartans defeat the host Balfour Redmen 101-62 in the junior boys final.
After the game, the modest Potoma emphasized that “my team played well to back me up.”
The superlatives were for others to dispense. Balfour head coach Dalton Ulrich, for example, raved about Potoma’s dominant performance.
“He’s a great player — very talented,’’ Ulrich said. “He works hard and, when you look at his game, it’s a ‘how do you guard him?’ type of thing.’’
Ulrich pointed out that the Redmen were in a nowin situation, much like any team that is faced with guarding the 5-foot-10 Potoma. If a team plays in-yourface defence, Potoma can use his quickness to drive to the hoop. If the defender lays off, he can drain threepointers. So how do you win?
“It’s almost a situation where you let him score 60 and guard everyone else,’’ Ulrich quipped.
Potoma, who had 24 points at halftime, could have hit the 50-point mark in the final statistical tally if not for the manner in which the game unfolded. With Campbell comfortably in the lead, Potoma was removed from the game midway through the third quarter, although he did return to the court for part of the fourth frame.
Potoma also sparkled Friday in a round-robin game against the LeBoldus Golden Suns, scoring 39 points to lead his team to a 91-82 victory.
On Saturday, Luke Harold (who had 14 points), Daniel Sison (12) and Justin Myles (11) also scored in double figures for the Tartans. Lee Barber (23), Ashton Sies (10) and Jake Gagnon (10) were the leading scorers for Balfour.
“All the time and hard work we put in as volunteers pays off when you get to the final,’’ Ulrich said. “I told the guys after the game that I was proud of them.’’
LeBoldus won the junior boys third-place game, defeating the Riffel Royals 9563.
Matt Barnard led LeBoldus with 19 points. Lucas Nurkowski paced Riffel with 18.
The Winston Knoll Wolverines edged the Sheldon-Williams Spartans 54-53 in the fifth-place game. D’Sean Mimbs, Maguire Forster
“(POTOMA’S) A GREAT PLAYER — VERY TALENTED. HE WORKS HARD AND, WHEN YOU LOOK AT HIS GAME, IT’S A ‘HOW DO YOU GUARD HIM?’ TYPE OF THING.” DALTON ULRICH, BALFOUR HEAD COACH
and James Hay had 10 points apiece for Winston Knoll. Aiden Hamilton led Sheldon-Williams with 14.
In the junior girls final on Saturday at Balfour Collegiate, the Miller Marauders defeated Sheldon-Williams 69-48.
Katie Bastedo, who was named the junior girls MVP, led Miller with 12 points. Drew Williams had 27 points for Sheldon-Williams.
In the junior girls thirdplace game, the O’Neill Titans defeated Balfour 6630 behind 17 points from Myriak Moneyrew. Oliviah Hastings led Balfour with 13 points.
The tournament also included slam-dunk and threepoint-shooting contests.
Winston Knoll’s Josh Wambululu was the top dunker. The three-point shootout winners were Miller’s Alex Schmidt (girls) and Balfour’s Nolan Kuz (boys).
■ The Golden Suns beat the Tartans 96-68 on Friday at Campbell Collegiate in a battle of unbeaten Regina Intercollegiate Basketball League senior boys teams.
LeBoldus, which got 24 points from Kade Belyk, improved its record to 9-0. Campbell is 7-1.
In another senior boys large schools game on Friday, Colton Friesen scored 17 points to lead the Winston Knoll Wolverines to a 55-53 victory over the neighbouring Riffel Royals. Kieran Hebert led Riffel with 12 points.
More RIBL results appear in Local Scoreboard.