The Sacred Heart Saints defence did all they could to keep the senior Saint boys in their games this past weekend in Lumsden, however their effort was in vain as the Sacred Heart offence failed to do much of anything, averaging just over 34 points through three tournament games, all of which were losses.
Game One in Lumsden saw the Saints take on the top 4A team in the province, the Melfort Comets.
The defence held their own against a talented Comets squad that had went to the final of the York City Classic in January, allowing just 34 points through the first half.
Unfortunately the Sacred Heart offence was almost nonexistent, scoring just eight points of their own at the break to trail 34-8.
鈥淲e had a lot of trouble scoring, especially in the first half against Melfort and that鈥檚 definitely something that we need to work on,鈥� offered Saints head coach Garrett Karcha, adding that offence has been a big part of his team鈥檚 weakness all season long.
An offensive spurt in the third quarter saw the Saints double up their first half point total in half the time as they scored 16 points while allowing 22.
They followed that up by completely shutting down the potent Melfort offence in the final quarter, holding the Comets to just two points while scoring eight of their own for a final score of 58-32; the 58 points for the Comets was their lowest total of the season, proving the Sacred Heart defence stood strong.
Brody Kormos鈥� six point, 10 rebound performance led all Saint players in both categories while grade 12 captain Tannum Wyonzek chipped in with five points and six rebounds of his own.
The second game of the tournament had the Saints taking on the Moosomin Marquis.
An 11 point first quarter performance by Wyonzek propelled the Saints to a 20-18 lead after one frame before Wyonzek had to leave the game due to prior commitments.
The Wyonzek departure, combined with a first quarter injury to Kormos, meant the Saints were suddenly missing two of their top scorers; a problem that proved to be too much as they scored just 18 points the rest of the way in the 67-38 loss. 鈥淵eah Tannum had 11 points in the quarter in about seven minutes of playing time and he had to go to the Zone Referee Camp out in Springside and that was tough because we were leading the game,鈥� mentioned Karcha, continuing, 鈥淭hen Brody got hurt, he left and then we ended up losing by 20 or something in the end because we lost our offence.鈥�
First year Saint guard Jake Javier led all Saints in scoring with 14 points while grade 11 forward Cody Doll hauled down a season high 14 rebounds. 鈥淐ody (Doll) played very well,鈥� mentioned the Saints coach. 鈥淗e鈥檚 been getting better all season, especially defensively, and he proved it this weekend.鈥�
The final game of the tournament pitted the Saints against the host Lumsden Devils.
The offensive slumber continued for the Saints in their final game, scoring just nine points through the first half before waking up to net 12 points in each of the final two quarters.
Unfortunately for Sacred Heart, the Devils were able to take a commanding lead into halftime at 24-9 before scoring another 26 points in the second half to take the game 50-33.
Javier once again led Sacred Heart in scoring, this time with 12 points. Javier also picked up seven rebounds, five steals and three assists in one of his strongest performances of the season.
Doll, too, put together another strong game. The first year Saint hoops player picked up 13 rebounds while scoring five points and four rebounds in the loss.
Next up
The Sacred Heart Saint senior boys鈥� basketball team will take a couple of weeks off before getting back at it February 27-28 in Esterhazy.
They鈥檒l then host a four team round-robin tournament the following weekend before preparing for playoffs.
