The YRHS Raiders senior boys鈥� basketball team are gathering steam heading into next weekend鈥檚 SHSAA 5A Small Cities championships thanks to a trio of wins at an exhibition tournament they hosted this past weekend at the YRHS gymnasium.
The Raiders picked up wins over the visiting Brandon 鈥� Neelin Spartans (70-52) and Swan Valley Tigers (71-62), before wrapping the four team round-robin tournament up with a 62-45 victory over their Gladstone Avenue rivals the Sacred Heart Saints.
Raider head coach Jason Payne said that the tournament 鈥� while unimportant in the grand scheme of things 鈥� was a great opportunity for his crew to not only pick up some momentum, but to get back into game action following a pretty substantial break. 鈥淔or us this is an opportunity to knock some rust off and see if the stuff that we鈥檝e done over the last couple of weeks has worked for us,鈥� mentioned Payne, continuing, 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 played since February 13, so you don鈥檛 want to go into playoffs not having played any games in a month.鈥�
The exhibition tournament also provided the Raiders with a chance to play some teams that they were not familiar with in the form of the MHSAA 鈥楢AA鈥� second ranked Swan Valley Tigers and third ranked Neelin Spartans 鈥� both of whom are among the favourites for the Manitoba 鈥楢AA鈥� Provincial title this year . 鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to play some teams from Manitoba,鈥� said Payne. 鈥淭hey offer a little bit of a different look, a bit of a different style than what we had seen from some of our Saskatchewan teams, so that part is good as it lets us see things we might come up against next weekend.鈥�
Speaking of next weekend, Payne believes that outside of the top ranked Prince Albert - St. Mary Marauders, everyone from two to six believes they have a shot at qualifying for Hoopla. 鈥淪t. Mary is a top three team in our category and they鈥檒l compete with LeBoldus and St. Joe鈥檚 from Saskatoon and then everyone two to six will tell themselves that they鈥檒l have a good chance to advance if things go their way,鈥� suggested Payne, adding that if his Raiders play to their potential, they could certainly grab the second Hoopla qualifying spot. 鈥淲e definitely have a good chance if we stick to our game plan.
鈥淲e just need to play hard and stay focused all weekend.鈥�
The Raiders 鈥� hosts of the 2015/16 SHSAA 5A Small Cities Championship 鈥� will begin their quest for Provincial qualification on Friday against the third ranked North Battleford Comp. Vikings. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:00p.m. at the YRHS gymnasium with an entry fee of five dollars for adults (daily pass).
Earlier Friday games will see the top seeded Prince Albert 鈥� St. Mary Marauders take on the eighth ranked Balgonie 鈥� Greenall Griffins at 2:45p.m., the fourth ranked Estevan Elecs battle the fifth seeded Swift Current Colts at 4:30p.m., and the second seeded Moose Jaw 鈥� Peacock Toilers take on the seventh ranked Prince Albert 鈥� Carlton Crusaders at 6:15p.m. at the YRHS gymnasium.
