The St. Paul Regional High School Saints hosted its annual invitational basketball tournament this weekend, with the boys team claming the championship and the girls earning a third place finish.
The boys Saints conquered every team in their path to claim the championship at home this weekend, taking down Ashmont and Redwater before defeating the Hilltop High Chargers, 60-54, in a hard fought final.
“Last year, we were in the final here and we lost a heartbreaker to Fort McMurray,” recalled St. Paul boys basketball coach Jorge Silva. The team had talked about potentially winning this year’s edition of the tournament, a goal that the boys accomplished. “It was just great for all the kids to come together and get it done.”
Ben Laing, a Grade 12 player who was a part of last year’s loss, said that the Chargers gave the Saints their most difficult challenge in the tournament.
“They were very tough competition; it was a fight to the very end,” Laing said, adding that the support provided by the Saints bench was very beneficial. “We have a really good team, even with our bench. Our bench is very supportive of us, even though they don’t always see as much playing time.”
The Saints entered the third quarter leading by only three points, but held onto their momentum and refused to give up the lead, despite a few strong offensive pushes from the Chargers.
“The kids played their hearts out. I think our starting five played 35 minutes of the game, and played hard; there was no quit. They worked their butts off up and down on defense and on offence,” Silva said. “We have a lot of guys that are just going to work hard and hit the floor and do whatever it takes to get to that ball.”
St. Jerome’s finished third at the tournament with a win over Redwater in the third place game.
On the girls’ side, the Saints fell short of a championship but managed to finish the tournament on a positive note by earning third place. After taking down Ashmont in the tournament opener, the Saints were narrowly defeated by Redwater in the semifinals.
“I would have liked to have given (Redwater) a bit of a better game. We started with a 15-point deficit. We came out really flat in the first quarter and just didn’t work our way out,” said St. Paul girls basketball coach Sasha Levasseur.
“We’re running a new offense right now, so that is new to the girls, but there were too many missed shots. Foul shots are just points left on the floor, and conditioning would definitely be an issue that we’re going to have to address.”
The loss slotted the Saints into the third place game against the Pigeon Lake Panthers, where the hosts put forth a dominant performance, beating the Panthers by 53-37 to earn third place.
“I’m glad we finished strong . . . the girls don’t give up and I’m really happy about that. They just leave it all on the floor,” Levasseur said. “It’s looking like it’s shaping up to be a really good season.”
St. Jerome’s girls took top spot in the girls’ tournament by defeating Redwater in the final.
