Yorkton junior boys' basketball had a learning experience this past weekend at a four-team tournament at Sacred Heart.
The Yorkton Regional High School Raiders went 0-3 and the Sacred Heart High School Saints mustered a 1-2 record in the round-robin tourney.
The Saints kicked off the tourney on Friday against St. Henry's of Melville. It was a close tilt, but Sacred Heart came up short, losing 24-28.
"It was a very close game," says Saints head coach Tin Tran. "We would have won if we made a couple of our free throws and a finished a couple layups."
Balcarres took the Raiders to the cleaners in their opening match, beating them 55-24.
"Balcarres is a bigger team that plays really well," says Raiders head coach Perry Ostapowich. "We had a tough go along the boards. It was a tough game, but we learned from it."
The Raiders followed up their shellacking with a much better performance against St. Henry's. They played strong at both ends of the court in the 35-43 loss.
"The kids worked really hard," says Ostapowich on the Saint Henry's game. "They battled and made a lot of good plays."
Sacred Heart didn't fare well against Balcarres, who went undefeated, either, losing 35-51.
"Balcarres has really strong post players," says Tran. "They destroyed us down low. We were just overmatched."
The Saints and Raiders closed out the tournament against each other on Saturday. Sacred Heart came out on top in their own barn in a 43-22 victory.
"We passed the ball well and executed," says Tran. "I'm very happy with our performance."
"It would have been nice to win, but we put in a good effort anyways," added Ostapowich.
Both Yorkton junior boys' basketball clubs are now on holidays until after the Christmas break.
