St. Anthony’s School was abuzz with basketball action last weekend as the junior Saints boys and girls hosted their annual tournament.
In both cases the two St. Anthony’s teams ended up in three way ties for first place, forcing organizers to add up points against to determine the winners.
The Saints girls started their tournament off playing their cross-town rivals DVSS. The Saints played hard and won 44-16 on Friday afternoon.
In their next game they took on Stettler, and were able to go away with another hard fought victory, winning 41-31.
For their final game in round robin action, they faced Trochu.
Trochu came out strong wanting to win. The Saints did not have the same energy, and ended up losing 47-21.
After round robin play, Stettler, Trochu and the Saints all had 2-1 records, tied for the best record. Officials went to points against to determine the winner, and this put Trochu on top, with Stettler in second and the Saints in third.
Only 12 points separated the teams.
‘It was really that close,” said coach Gavin Makse.
With less than a handful of games under their belt, Makse feels good about this team’s progress.
“Last year we had a 1-3 record by this time, this year we are 3-1 so I’ll take that any day,” said Makse.
He said in each game the team came out strong, but it was noticeable in their loss they didn’t have the same level of intensity, focus and effort as in their victories.
“Trochu came out to win, they wanted it more than we did,” said Makse. “I told the girls we did a lot of good things on the weekend.”
He adds the loss could be constructive as well showing the team areas that need focus.
The Saints boys also had a strong tournament.
They started out facing Delia, but lost in their first match.
In their second game on Saturday morning, they faced Brownfield. The Saints were strong, but as the clock ticked down, the two teams were tied. With no time left on the clock Brownfield found themselves at the line shooting free throws. They were unsuccessful, forcing overtime. There, the Saints put together their first win of their tournament.
They went on to finish off Stettler, and ending up in the same predicament as the girls. Three teams had matching records.
The first tie-break was comparing head to head play and because Delia beat the Saints in round robin action, they were victorious.
