The YRHS Raiders senior boys鈥� basketball team took part in their eighth and final basketball tournament ahead of the postseason this past weekend when they travelled to Melfort to compete in the Miller Memorial Invitation Tournament March 6-7.
The Raiders opened up the tournament with a hard fought 59-50 win over the Meadow Lake Spartans.
Nick Payne led the Raiders with 18 points, seven rebounds and five steals, just one point more than second highest scorer Alex Popoff.
Popoff also had five rebounds while the tenacious Clyde Mariano had arguably his best game of the season scoring nine points, picking up four rebounds and playing some very tough defence. 鈥淐lyde (Mariano) had an excellent game both defensively and with some timely scoring,鈥� said YRHS head coach Jason Payne. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 good because he鈥檚 been working hard and I think sometimes his results aren鈥檛 where he鈥檇 like them so it鈥檚 nice to see his hard work pay off for him.鈥�
That win propelled the Raiders into the tournament semi-finals against 3A powerhouse Birch Hills, who managed to squeak out a close 73-71 win over the Raiders; Yorkton鈥檚 second two point semi-final loss in as many tournaments. 鈥淲e seem to have a lot of them lately (close games) and have been on the wrong end of all of them so it would be really nice to win one,鈥� mentioned coach Payne, adding that, just like in Edmonton, the team had a chance to win late. 鈥淲e had another shot at the buzzer that didn鈥檛 drop for us and I think if the kids could get a taste of success in those situations that it would be nice, but it was a good game.
鈥淏oth teams played hard and played clean and it was an enjoyable game.鈥�
Nick Payne once again led the Orangemen attack scoring 27 points thanks in large part to six three-pointers, while picking up six rebounds and collecting five assists.
The trio of Alex Popoff, Peter Kozushka and Caleb Bymak also put together strong games. Popoff scored eight points but hauled down a team high 16 boards while Bymak scored 14 points and added six rebounds.
Kozushka, the highly touted football prospect, scored 11 points including eight straight in the third quarter to get the Raiders back into the game. He also picked up eight rebounds in the loss.
The loss dropped the Raiders to the third place game where they met with the Weyburn Eagles, a team that they have had success against recently.
However their success would not continue as the Eagles came out flying in the game, outhustling the Raiders for a 69-60 Weyburn victory.
Popoff put together an impressive double-double in the defeat, scoring 25 points and picking up 16 rebounds while Nick Payne scored 14 points and collected four steals.
The next action for the YRHS Raiders senior boys鈥� basketball team will be this coming weekend when they travel to Estevan for a playoff seeding tournament.
The Raiders come into the tournament as the second seed and are looking to move up one spot into first ahead of Estevan, Moose Jaw Peacock and Balgonie Greenall prior to Regionals in Regina.
