A pair of convincing wins – an 82-59 victory over Kamsack and a hard fought 52-45 win over host Melville – combined with a spirited 75-57 loss to the YRHS Raiders saw the Sacred Heart Saints senior boys’ basketball team go 2-1 over the weekend finish in second place at a basketball tournament held at Melville Comprehensive School.
“I was happy with the result of the weekend overall,” said Sacred Heart head coach Garrett Karcha. “We played well in all three games and I was able to get our bench into the games and get the guys scoring.”
The Saints opened the tournament up with a game against the host Melville Cobras on Friday, where they trailed by one – 20-19 – at half-time before outscoring the Cobras in both the third and fourth quarters en route to a 52-45 tournament opening victory.
Noah Clarke led all Saints with 20 points while his 11 rebounds were second only to Brody Kormos’ 20.
Jake Javier had 15 points in the win with the majority of them coming in the final quarter. “Jake, he’s kind of a streaky player and on Friday Melville had a defence to go against Jake, and that was a bit frustrating for him,” offered the Saints’ bench boss, adding that once Javier was able to solve the Cobra defence he began to put the ball in the hoop. “He kind of went off at the end of the game and scored quite a few straight points.
“He’s a streaky shooter, but once he’s on he’s on and it was nice to see him get going.”
Friday’s win meant that Sacred Heart’s first game on Saturday morning against their Gladstone Avenue rivals, the YRHS Raiders, would all but decide who would finish in first place at the end of the tournament.
A slow start saw Sacred Heart fall behind early in the game, but the Saints managed to cut the Raider lead to two twice in the first quarter, the second time coming when Javier hit one of his three three-pointers in the game.
Unfortunately for the Saints however, the two point deficit would be as close as they would get as the Raiders answered with a three-pointer of their own from Ben Koroluk and then went on a 9-0 run to end the first quarter, never looking back while handing Sacred Heart a 75-57 loss.
Javier led the Saints with 17 points while Clarke picked up his second double-double of the tournament with a 15 point, 11 rebound performance.
The Saints’ final game of the tournament pitted them against the Kamsack Spartans – a team that had lost their previous two games in convincing fashion.
Sacred Heart’s most offensive quarter of the season saw them take a 32-35 lead into the second quarter, where the Saints flipped the switch from offence to defence, scoring 11 points but limiting the Spartan offence to just six of their own to take a 43-31 lead into the break.
The Saints increased their lead to 25 at 67-42 heading into the fourth quarter and added 15 more points for good measure in the final frame to pick up an impressive 82-59 victory. Clarke had 22 points and 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the tournament and fourth in as many games, while Austin Thomas and Austin Walkington both hit double digits in points with 11 and 10 respectively.
Rookie Grady Hawkins also found his offensive game with increased playing time.
The grade 10 guard scored a career high seven points as Sacred Heart’s head coach found time to get his bench players into the game. “That game against Kamsack, it was good for us because it allowed me to get guys who maybe don’t usually get to see the floor some more playing time,” mentioned coach Karcha, continuing, “I’m running a big bench this year with 15 guys, so it’s tough to find moments to get everyone playing time but it’s nice when the guys can come in, play and find some success because those are going to be our players in the next couple of years so the game experience for them is great.”
The Saints will now take the next two weeks off as the student-athletes focus their attention on final exams.
The next action for the Sacred Heart Saints will be Friday, January 29, when they host the Weyburn Eagles at the Halo Dome at 12:00p.m. for the first game of the sixth annual York City Classic – a tournament co-hosted by both the Sacred Heart Saints and YRHS Raiders.
