St. Paul gymnasiums were abuzz with activity over the weekend when a total of 15 senior boys’ and girls’ basketball teams travelled to town for an exciting tournament. After an intense weekend of play, both of the teams from St. Paul Regional High School ended up as finalists in their respective brackets.
On the boys’ side of things, the Regional Saints played in the tournament’s first game, coming away with a convincing win over Elk Point’s F.G. Miller.
“Our boys played really hard,” head coach Jorge Silva said of the opening contest. “I was happy with it.”
Coming off a successful tournament in Vermilion where they made it to the final game, as well as a big win in their first regular season matchup against JR Robson, the Saints had high hopes heading into the weekend’s event.
“We’re fast, and we have a little bit of height,” Silva said. “We haven’t had a lot of height in the last couple years, and this year our big centre is in Grade 10, so the future looks bright for us.”
The Saints went on to earn themselves a spot in their home tournament’s final matchup on Dec. 13, when they would call upon their big centre, Bradley Dubrule, to help them deal with a large team from Notre Dame.
The two teams spent the first quarter sizing each other up, with the home team down 17-16 at the first break in play. Notre Dame was able to pull away in the second, however, and racked up a 40-26 lead by halftime. The Saints battled back at various times throughout the second half, but Notre Dame’s lead persisted, and by the final horn Notre Dame had earned themselves a 67-47 win, as well as the tournament crown.
Nick Lupul was the leading scorer for St. Paul in the final game, pouring in 15 points. Dubrule battled hard down low to rack up 13 points for his team, while Noah Shankowski added 10.
“Notre Dame is a good team. We just didn’t have it tonight,” Silva said after the final. “They are a polished team, and they did some stuff to us tonight that we hadn’t seen yet. But it’s early in the season.”
Shankowski was proud of his team’s efforts, and looks forward to improving as the season progresses.
“It was fought hard. We did our best for sure,” he said of the tournament’s final game. “We think we can beat them if we play better. Maybe today they were the better team. We just need to work hard everyday.”
Similarly, the girls’ team from the Regional also started the tournament off with a convincing win, as the first game of their bracket saw them defeat the JA Williams Sharks.
According to head coach Trent Rowley, playing the tournament on their home court added an extra level of excitement for his team.
“It’s fun for the girls,” he said. “They come out and they’re excited to play.”
The girls also made it to the tournament final, where they met up with a strong St. Jerome’s team from Vermilion.
A fast-paced start to the game had the teams knotted at 25 by halftime. Both teams elected, at times, to use full- and three-quarter-court pressure to make things happen on defence, with the St. Jerome’s Spartans taking their turn with the tactic in the third quarter.
“They caught us off guard a little bit,” Rowley said of the press. “I didn’t want to waste a timeout right away, so they got about six points there with three layups on us, but we got lots of points off our press too.”
The Saints were down 41-36 heading into the third, and after an exciting final frame, it was St. Jerome’s who ended up victorious with a 50-46 win.
Hannah Porozni was the Saints’ leading scorer in the final with 15 points, while Tanisha Gardiner added 14.
“It was a great game. It’s fun to be in those games. We had a packed house and people cheering,” Rowley said. “The girls played their hearts out, that’s all I can ask for.”
In the boys’ consolation final, the team from F.G. Miller defeated Mallaig, while the Ashmont boys beat St. Jerome’s to capture third place. The F.G. Miller girls’ team finished in fourth place in their bracket, while the Mallaig girls fell short in their last game of the tournament against Lac La Biche.
