Head coach Garrett Karcha took his very young Sacred Heart Saints senior boys鈥� basketball team down to Estevan for their first tournament of 2015, hoping to get his players some much needed game time experience in preparation for the rest of the season.
That鈥檚 exactly what happened as well, as the senior Saints carried a 鈥榩lay by committee鈥� approach throughout the entire tournament while going 1-2, falling to the Weyburn Eagles in their first game before obliterating the Fillmore Falcons to move to the consolation final where they were defeated by the Balgonie Greenall Griffins despite leading at half-time.
But despite the two losses, coach Karcha felt that his team definitely showed promise, with certain players showing the fighting spirit that is known to come from Saint athletes. 鈥淪ome of the grade 10鈥檚 surprised me a little bit, guys like Zach Maddin did well coming in off the bench,鈥� offered Karcha, adding that grade 12 captain and leader Tannum Wyonzek also had a strong tournament.
Wyonzek, Karcha mentioned, will definitely see more minutes than most players on the team as he鈥檒l be out on the court for not only his skill, but his veteran leadership as well while the rest of the Saints players will be rotated in and out frequently; an approach that Karcha admits is relatively new to him. 鈥淢y philosophy has changed from years past. I used to really rely on my starters a lot and this year I鈥檓 playing everyone,鈥� mentioned the Saints head coach, continuing, 鈥淟ike I said before, I鈥檝e got a lot of young players, five grade 10鈥檚, six grade 11鈥檚 and just a couple grade 12鈥檚.
鈥淚 was able to play everyone and even in the last game, in the pressure situations, I had a lot of grade 10鈥檚 out there putting in some minutes.鈥�
One other player, Filipino import Jake Javier, also caught the coach鈥檚 eye at the Estevan tournament. 鈥淗e was our leading scorer in a couple of games and did a good job offensively as he likes to shoot the three and that sort of thing,鈥� mentioned Karcha, continuing, 鈥淛ake is a good player and it鈥檚 good to see him help our offence.鈥�
Next action
The net action for the Sacred Heart Saints senior boys鈥� basketball team will be this coming weekend when they travel to Melville for a basketball tournament.
The Saints will be take some time off as they prepare to co-host the fifth annual York City Classic with the YRHS Raiders January 30 and 31.
