They came, they saw, and they conquered—but the Churchill Trojans also may have left town with a dose of newfound respect for the Muskie senior boys’ basketball squad.
Despite dropping a pair of games to the Trojans in the best-of-three NWOSSAA final here over the weekend, the Muskies excited their fans—scoring 93 points in the two games and holding the vaunted Trojan offence to just a single point in the first four minutes of the opening quarter Saturday morning.
“Our guys gave 100 percent. They had fun, played hard, and gave it their best effort,” Muskie head coach Paul Noonan said after Saturday’s game.
“Churchill was the better team this weekend and they deserve to go to OFSAA,” he added.
Fresh from a 72-48 Trojan victory in Friday night’s opener, Fort High and Churchill went toe-to-toe early Saturday with good ball movement and good defence on both sides.
Muskie veterans Garnet Cornell, Joey Theriault, Morgan Anderson, Jeremy Strain, and Travis Stromness started in what likely was their final high school game together.
Limited to a 1-0 lead four minutes into the first quarter, the Trojans got a three-pointer from Henry Templemen and a lay-up by guard Edwin Fui to go up 6-0.
Strain got the host side on the board with a three-point play (a basket and free throw) to cut the lead to 6-3.
After a Churchill jump shot made it 8-3, Theriault dribbled the full floor and laid the ball in to trim the deficit to 8-5. But the Trojans responded immediately, getting a pair of threes and a two-point jump shot to increase their lead to 16-5.
After Stromness stepped to the free throw line and made one of two, for a 16-6 score, Churchill threw up a buzzer-beater off an in-bound pass to close the quarter at 18-6.
The second quarter started fast. After Matt Schmidt (the 6’7” Trojan forward who appears headed to Lakehead University this fall) laid in another two points, Cornell went end-to-end for a lay-up for a 20-8 score.
Churchill drained another two before Cornell hit a bonus free throw to make it 22-9.
The prettiest Muskie score of the game came next as Cornell hit Anderson with a nice pass down the left side. Anderson then dished inside to Strain, who hit a 20-foot jumper and a foul shot to draw Fort High within 22-12.
Churchill then made a pair of free throws, sandwiched between an offensive rebound and basket, to take a 26-12 lead. But the Muskies answered back immediately as Cornell was fouled and Strain sank both free throws.
Anderson then tossed up a big three-point shot with just 40 seconds left in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 26-17.
But Churchill wasn’t done as Schmidt then hit a free throw and then Alex Tempelmen uncorked a big three-pointer at the buzzer for a 30-17 Trojan lead at halftime.
With just 13 points separating the teams, a strong third quarter from either side would help dictate the outcome. It was the visitors who stepped up to take control—outscoring the Muskies 25-11 in the third frame to build a 27-point lead.
Cornell, who contributed five points in the third quarter, hit a big three right off the bat to close the lead to 30-20.
Then it was Fui with a trey to make it 33-20, followed by Strain, who took a nice pass from Cornell and hit a jumper in the key for a 33-22 score.
The Trojans then scored three-straight baskets to grab a 39-22 lead before Cornell, with a lay-up off of a steal, and Theriault, who slashed to the top of the key and nailed a nifty one-handed jumper, brought the home side back to within 13 at 39-26.
Churchill responded with an eight-point run, including a pair of lay-ups from Fui, to go up 47-26.
But the Muskies wouldn’t roll over. Sixth man Talbot Johnson (who scored seven points in the second half for the Muskies) hit a smooth jumper from the left side to cut the gap to 47-28.
The Trojans, however, closed out the quarter with another eight-point run, including a three-pointer by Schmidt at the buzzer, to end the third quarter with a 55-28 lead.
In what was a first-class move on both sides, both teams substituted freely in the fourth quarter (more subbing, in fact, that a hoagie shop on a busy Friday night).
All 14 Muskies saw the floor during the game as Noonan and his daughter, Sarah, mixed and matched their lineup.
After Fui, who led all scorers with 29 points Saturday morning, drained a three-pointer, Johnson responded with a three of his own to make the score 57-31 early in the fourth.
The squads then traded a flurry of scores as a pair of jump shots by Morgan Anderson, a two-pointer from Theriault, another two-point shot from Johnson, and a nice offensive rebound and basket by Dexter Hunsperger brought the score to 67-41.
During the final minutes, Noonan subbed in Kurtis Gustafson, Gavin Gibbons, Justin Anderson, Mike Sande, and Aaron Oakes. Sande, who suffered a major injury to his left knee last year, looked very much the player of old as created pressure in the Trojan zone.
Churchill closed out their fourth-quarter scoring with three free throws while the Muskies got a pair of baskets from Oakes, who drained a right side jumper and put back a rebound, to make the final 70-45.
High scorers for the Muskies were Cornell with eight points, Morgan Anderson and Talbot Johnson with seven apiece, and Joey Theriault with six.
Fui (29), Schmidt (14), and Tempelmen (12) led Churchill.
In the opening game here Friday night, the Trojans claimed leads of 12-5 after the first quarter, 34-17 at the half, and 58-31 after three quarters en route to the 72-48 victory.
The Muskies leading scorers were Theriault (19), Stromness (11), Strain (seven), and Hunsperger (five). The Trojans, meanwhile, relied on Schmidt (22), Fui (19), Brandon Myketa (10), and Henry Tempelmen (eight).
Churchill now advances to the ‘AA’ all-Ontario showdown being held March 3-5 in Oshawa.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
