Herbert edges Shadows for title

The Herbert Laurels wrote a new chapter in SWAC Boys Basketball history by ending the Shaunavon Shadows’ three-year reign atop the league.

The Laurels edged the host Shadows 86-85 in a championship game that had a little bit of everything. The Shadows had an early lead but Herbert led 24-23 after one quarter and the game was tied 46-46 at halftime. Herbert led 66-61 after three quarters before they clinched the win during an entertaining fourth quarter.

Herbert’s Kurt Robertson scored 29 points in the win as he scored from beyond the arc, on the fast break, inside, and from the free-throw line.

“It was a good hard game I think. We were little rough on defense sometimes but we kept it together for the most part and fought through it,” said the veteran Robertson. He said the Laurels knew they would have their hands full against a talented Shadows team playing in their home gym.

“We wanted to keep them away from the threes. They shoot a lot of threes against us so that was one of the things. We wanted to fight for rebounds and just play hard because sometimes we get a little lazy and screw up passes and get down on ourselves and screw it up.”

Laurels Grade 10 point guard Ezekiel Barraquio was still grinning long after the game had finished.

“It is just really exhilarating,” said Barraquio. “I am so happy because we were down by like 10 points in the first and second quarter and it was just crazy. Then in the third and fourth we just got back into it and that’s what we do you know.” He also said that better play on the defensive end was the key to the victory.

The Laurels were in Frontier for a 1A Boys Conference tournament over the weekend and advanced to Regionals with an 87-50 win over Moose Jaw Cornerstone before losing the Conference final with a 101-54 loss to Coronach. The Laurels will put their season on the line again this weekend at Regionals in Coronach where they will open the Herbert’s Kurt Robertson got to the basket during a 29-point effort in the SWAC championship game. tournament against Lipton needing to win both games to advance to Hoopla.

“We just want to fight our hardest and do the best job that we can, that’s pretty much it,” added Barraquio.