SASKATOON - The LCBI Bisons senior boys team left it all on the ball courts in Saskatoon over March 21-22.
And their fans loved them for it.
Competing in the 2025 Hoopla Provincial Basketball Championship, the Outlook team traveled to the Bridge City to first lock horns with the St. Brieux Crusaders at Centennial Collegiate on Friday afternoon to decide who was headed to the 2A Boys Gold Final. Following the tipoff, what commenced in front of a packed crowd was an intense, back-and-forth, and excellently played ball game by both rosters where momentum swung harder than a swing in a windstorm.
As the score on the clock moved upward for both the Bisons and the Crusaders, control over the ball and the court flip-flopped between the teams until it looked like LCBI had taken the lead in the game's final few minutes. However, this game came down to literally seconds, as St. Brieux managed to sneak by with a sudden burst of offense that put them just ahead, followed by a free throw that sealed the deal for the spot in the Gold Final for the Crusaders.
The Bisons had nothing to hang their heads about, as not only did they show skill and perseverance by producing a razor-thin 73-71 score, but they did so against the #1 ranked team in the division, opening eyes and gaining attention for the LCBI squad.
With the Bisons now set for the Bronze medal game, attention was paid to Friday evening's action between the Norquay Knights and the Saskatoon Royals, to see who LCBI would face for 3rd Place. Taking and maintaining a substantial lead were the Royals, who defeated the Knights at a score of 95-56 and go on to face St. Brieux for the Gold medal. That game would end in another victory for Saskatoon, defeating the Crusaders for the 2A Boys Gold at a score of 74-64.
Meanwhile, in 1A Girls action, the local Kenaston Kodiaks first squared off with the Foam Lake Panthers on Friday at St. Joseph High School to decide who'd be heading to the Gold final on Saturday. Despite a solid effort, it was the Panthers who'd advance, while the Kodiaks found themselves matched against the Kerrobert Rebels on Saturday at Marion M. Graham Collegiate in the Bronze medal game. This contest would prove to be more in Kenaston's favor, as the girls found a way to push through and maintain the lead, ultimately ending in a Kodiaks victory and a Bronze medal for the team at a score of 60-48.
For the Bisons, it would be LCBI vs Norquay in their own Bronze medal final.
The game was played on Saturday afternoon at Marion M. Graham Collegiate in front of a packed gym full of LCBI and Norquay supporters.
The action between the #5 ranked Bisons and the #2 ranked Knights was fast and furious, making for a very even contest heading into the half as both teams were fighting tooth and nail for the Bronze medal.
By the half, LCBI found themselves ahead at a score of 37-35. However, Norquay pushed through and by the time the clock ended after the third, the Knights were winning at a score of 56-54, making for another close contest being played by the Bisons.
The fourth saw both benches ratchet up both their intensity and their offense, with LCBI taking an early lead. Norquay wasn't far behind though, making the Bisons work hard to maintain it. A consistent gameplay by the Bisons saw them retain the higher numbers on the scoreboard throughout the quarter, and by the time the final seconds had ticked down, the LCBI Bisons had captured the 2A Boys Bronze Medal by a score of 74-69.
Emotions ran high in the gymnasium as the cheers of LCBI supporters rang throughout the school and players posed for photos with family and friends, capturing this moment in time in LCBI's long and storied history.
Speaking to this reporter after the medal win, Bisons head coach Leah Rusk said that Friday's nail-biter against St. Brieux was still on the minds of her players heading into Saturday's game, but she was proud of the way the team persevered out on the court.
"It was intense, and I'm trying hard to not think about the outcome and just think about how well the boys played, and how incredible the atmosphere was, because it's like a once in a lifetime thing, and I know we've had boys who said they just had goosebumps the whole game," she said. "St. Brieux, they're first rank, they're like perennial. We did take it to them, and they scared them, we scared them hard, they didn't see it coming. I know their coach really well, and they're defending provincial champs, they thought they'd have a hard time with us, but nothing like that."
In the Bronze Final, Rusk said she was elated to see the dedication of players who'd committed themselves to the sport over a period of years pay off with a win.
"Well, it was physical, it was a physical battle, and our boys kind of shied away from it a little bit, but we reminded them that there is no tomorrow, and some of them have worked for four years," she said. "I've got four-year guys, and this was always the goal, to plan their fourth year, so when push came to shove, they took the pushes and battled through."
Seeing her team wearing their medals, Coach Rusk was beaming with pride and commended all of them for bringing the team close together, maintaining their focus in times of losses and keeping level heads with the goal of pushing through to the end.
"I'm just proud of the boys," she said. "They're just an incredible group, they're a fun group, all of them. I've never seen a group of boys in just the brotherhood that they had, and I'm just happy to see them get a reward for all the stuff that they've done. It's just awesome."
Coached by Leah Rusk with assistance by Matt Edwards and Conrad Shepherd, managed by Samantha Ridgewell, and stats by Jaxon McIver, the 2024-25 LCBI Bisons senior boys basketball team was comprised of Brody Ireland, Daylan Hoeflicher, Nathan Boot, Kole Shepherd, Joel Wright, Mathias L'Heureux, Josh Akhamiokhor, Matthew Nelson, Kyler Spencer, Leland Righetti, Aiden Tran, Kyler Follick, and Benjamin Van Reeuwyk.
