The Sacred Heart Saints senior boys鈥� basketball team saved their best basketball for the end of the season this past weekend at the SHSAA 4A Boys Regional Championships at Moose Jaw鈥檚 Central Collegiate March 20 and 21.
The 12th-ranked Saints took on the Warman Wolverines in their opening game of the 4A Regionals and broke out of their nearly season long offensive stupor by scoring 33 points in the first half to trail the fifth ranked 4A team by just 10, 43-33, at the break.
Unfortunately the talented Wolverines found a way to solve the usually stingy Sacred Heart defence all game long, scoring another 43 points in the second half while holding the Saints to 26 points of their own in an 86-59 Sacred Heart loss.
Grade 11 guard Jake Javier continued his impressive first season with the Saints scoring 24 points in the loss while going 4-of-10 from beyond the arc. Javier also picked up four steals and three assists in the loss while grade 12 captain Tannum Wyonzek also found double figures in the point department with 15.
Grade 11 centre Brody Kormos hauled down a team high 12 rebounds while scoring eight points.
The loss meant the Saints were now officially eliminated from HOOPLA contention but still had an opportunity to end their season on a high if they could find a way to defeat the Notre Dame Hounds, who fell to the Central Cyclones 78-52 in their first game of Regional play.
Find a way they did as the Saints played arguably their best game of the season against the Hounds, torching Notre Dame for 40 points in the first half including a monstrous 24 point outburst in the second quarter to take a 40-23 lead into the break.
A lead they would not surrender as the Saints tacked on another 25 points in the second half while holding the Hounds to a paltry 17 second half points in a commanding 65-40 Sacred Heart win.
Javier once again led the Saints in scoring with 23 points including six three pointers. Javier also had five rebounds, five steals and five assists in the game while fellow grade 11 guard Bryan Buzinski also caused all sorts of problems for the Notre Dame players, scoring 11 points while picking up four assists, three steals and two rebounds.
Grade 12 captain Tannum Wyonzek finished off a great high school career with another double-double, scoring 16 points and hauling down 14 rebounds in the win while Sacred Heart鈥檚 other graduating player Caleb Sutter finished the game with no points and one steal.
Following the game Sacred Heart head coach Garrett Karcha told Yorkton This Week that his team really shocked him in their final weekend of the season. 鈥淭his weekend surprised me a little bit. We had two weeks of practice leading into this,鈥� mentioned Karcha, continuing, 鈥淲e had trouble scoring all season but put up over 30 points in one half and then again against Notre Dame we put up 40 points at half so we were scoring and I was really impressed with the result.鈥�
Two players in particular that impressed Karcha were his grade 12 leaders Wyonzek and Sutter, although both did so in different ways. 鈥淥bviously Tannum was the heart and soul and Caleb Sutter too,鈥� suggested Karcha. 鈥淐aleb was a great teammate and sportsman all season bringing the guys together behind closed doors and Tannum did that too, but he also led on the court.
鈥淲e鈥檙e really going to miss those guys.鈥�
However Karcha also knows that it wasn鈥檛 just his grade 12鈥檚 that did well in Moose Jaw. Many of his younger players, such as Javier, Buzinski, Kormos and Cody Doll also had great performances; performances that make the Saints head coach excited for the future. 鈥淭here were a few moments today where I had all grade 10鈥檚 and 11鈥檚 on the floor and I was thinking that these guys are going to grow, they鈥檙e going to develop over the summer,鈥� said a smiling Karcha. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to get bigger, stronger, more confident and there are only positives looking forward.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to be bringing back a lot of the starters from this year and there are some good, young players coming up from junior so next year should be a good season.鈥�
