The YRHS Raiders senior boys鈥� basketball team made their way to Estevan on the weekend to take part in an eight team basketball tournament and returned with gold medals.
The Raiders opened the tournament by trouncing the rebuilding Fillmore Falcons 93-18. 鈥淔illmore is a 1A school and they graduated six kids from a team that made Hoopla last year and when you lose six kids from a 1A school that size that鈥檚 pretty huge so they really struggled and we won 93-18,鈥� said YRHS head coach Jason Payne, adding that playing in a game like that is good for getting bench players valuable playing time. 鈥淚t was a good opportunity for the bench guys to get in and get some experience and stuff like that.鈥�
The win sent the Raiders to the 鈥楢鈥� side semi-finals where they met the Regina 鈥� Johnson Wildcats, who knocked off the host Estevan Elecs in the first round.
The Raiders came out strong against the Wildcats, using a combination of a half-court and three-quarter court press to keep the Regina team off balance en route to a 63-50 win.
In the final the Raiders met Moosomin, who had been shooting out the lights all tournament long.
A combination of speed and size allowed the Raiders to jump out to an early 25 point lead before the Moosomin shooters found their distance game; however it was too little, too late for Moosomin as the Raiders triumphed by 18 points for their first tournament win of the season.
However not everything went the Raiders鈥� way on the weekend as Nick Payne - who recently returned to the lineup after nursing a knee injury - had to leave the final game in the first half with another injury. 鈥淚t was his first tournament back and he was playing well but unfortunately he hurt himself again in the final,鈥� said coach Payne, continuing, 鈥淚鈥檓 disappointed for him because he鈥檚 worked really hard to get back but he鈥檒l start rehabbing soon and hopefully he鈥檒l get back before the end of the season.鈥�
The YRHS Raiders senior boys鈥� basketball team also travelled to Regina last Tuesday to take on the O鈥橬eill Titans in 5A exhibition action.
The Regional started off strong, scoring the first 11 points on their way to a convincing 61-41 win.
The Raiders will now be in Melville this weekend for an eight-team tournament.
