The YRHS Raiders senior boys鈥� basketball team made the long journey south to Estevan on Friday, March 13, to take part in the SHSAA 5A 麻豆传媒AV Conference tournament.
The Raiders were joined by three other teams 鈥� the Estevan Elecs, Balgonie Greenall Griffins and Moose Jaw A.E. Peacock Toilers 鈥� at the 麻豆传媒AV Conference tournament; a tournament that only decided the team鈥檚 final rankings for the SHSAA 5A Regionals in Regina this coming weekend.
The Raiders, looking to improve upon their second seed ranking, took on third ranked Estevan in their first game of the 麻豆传媒AV Conference tournament with the hopes of advancing to the Conference final against A.E. Peacock, who defeated Balgonie earlier in the day 88-43.
Unfortunately their hopes were dashed by the host Elecs as the Raiders dropped their first game by the slimmest of margins, 60-59, thanks to a below average field goal percentage of 28%.
Estevan, meanwhile, made 40% of their shots including seven from three point range to shock the Raiders and hand them their third very close loss in their last six games. 鈥淭his was the third game in our last six that we lost but had a chance to win at the buzzer and not be able to,鈥� offered YRHS Raider head coach Jason Payne, adding that it would be nice to find themselves on the winning side of a close game sometime soon. 鈥淢aybe we鈥檙e saving it for Regionals this week when we really need it but we鈥檙e kind of running out of time a little bit on that.鈥�
Senior Alex Popoff led the Raiders with a monstrous double-double against the Elecs. The talented grade 12 athlete scored 28 points and pulled down 21 rebounds in the loss while collecting five steals.
Caleb Bymak also posted a double-double in the defeat, picking up 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The narrow loss sent the Raiders into the third place game against Balgonie Greenall on Saturday, March 14.
Popoff once again rose to the occasion with his second incredible performance of the tournament, scoring 26 points and collecting 24 rebounds to lead the Raiders to a 74-56 win over the Griffins. 鈥淧opoff had a great weekend for us,鈥� said Payne, adding that now is when the senior players begin to play their best basketball of the season, although he does feel that Popoff has had his 鈥楢鈥� game going all year. 鈥淚 think when you get to this point in the season you start to see the grade 12鈥檚 begin to realize that the end of their career is coming and that can really lead them to step up their play and do their jobs.鈥�
Nick Payne and Tyson Black also had strong games in the win over Balgonie. Payne scored 14 points and added five rebounds and five assists while Black scored 11 points including three huge three pointers in the third quarter that really buried Balgonie. 鈥淭yson Black really gave us momentum with three threes in the quarter that gave us a big lead,鈥� said the YRHS head coach. 鈥淭he three pointer is such a huge momentum play in high school basketball and when you can string together a couple of them then it can sometimes feel like an avalanche and I think for Balgonie that was a little bit more than they could overcome.鈥�
The convincing win over Balgonie not only clinched the 麻豆传媒AV Conference third seed for the Raiders, it also allowed them to avoid a meeting with the top-ranked LeBoldus Golden Suns in the first round of the SHSAA Regional tournament.
LeBoldus, who were nearly upset by Balfour in the Regina City Final Monday night before clinching the Regina title with a 57-53 win, has been the class of the province all season and are currently ranked in the top 25 high school basketball teams in the nation. 鈥淏y all accounts they鈥檙e (LeBoldus) a wrecking machine this year,鈥� offered Payne. 鈥淭heir first two playoff games in Regina they had won by 60-plus points so the longer we can avoid playing a team like that the better.鈥�
Instead of LeBoldus, the Raiders will get Balfour, who finished third in the Regina regular season standings behind LeBoldus and Campbell (eliminated in the first round by Riffel) before marching to the final with wins over Thom (78-73) and Riffel (81-67).
However Payne knows that taking on Balfour, who very nearly handed LeBoldus their first loss of the season Monday night, will not be an easy task.
But he also knows that the longer the Raiders can keep the game close, the more pressure Balfour will feel. 鈥淓very time you鈥檙e the underdog the longer you can stick around in a game the more pressure you put on the higher seed,鈥� suggested Payne. 鈥淗opefully we make some shots early and put them in a situation where they start to get a little nervous and maybe we鈥檒l pull something off.鈥�
The YRHS Raiders will take on the Balfour Bears (formerly Redmen) at 8:00p.m. at Balfour Collegiate.
