Lucas Punkari
After two years of heart-breaking losses in the NWOSSAA playoffs, the excitement for the Muskie boys’ basketball team was clear to see Saturday morning in their home gym.
The black-and-gold were all smiles (or in the case of Gavin Moorhouse, jumping around the court in delight) after they swept the Thunder Bay champion Winston Churchill Trojans in the best-of-three series—giving the Muskies their first berth to the all-Ontarios since 2001.
“We are [just] the third team in Fort High history to do something like this, so it’s a huge accomplishment and we have every right to be excited about this,” reasoned Moorhouse, who is in Grade 12.
“It feels great because we finally did it after three years of hard, close battles,” he noted. “And this weekend, we ramped up our game and did exactly what we had to do.”
The Muskies lost the NWOSSAA finals the previous two seasons, falling on home court against the Trojans in 2010 and then losing to the Superior Gryphons in Thunder Bay last February.
“After how close we were the last two years, it’s pretty amazing to win it here on home court,” smiled returning Grade 12 captain Tim Metke.
“It’s unbelievable.”
In the series’ opener Friday afternoon, the Muskies held a 10-point lead going into the fourth quarter, which proved to be enough of a cushion to secure a 59-53 victory.
“I wish we had stats on our rebounding because we just dominated them,” noted head coach Bryce Coyle.
“Our offence was very efficient and we put up 59 points against a very good defence, which was one of our highest point totals of the season,” he added.
“We also played a strong man defence against them for most of the game, and it worked out very well.”
The Muskie offence was led by a 21-point showing from Will Anderson, with Metke adding 14 to the cause.
Then in Game 2 on Saturday morning, the black-and-gold found themselves in a tight affair early on, holding a slim 23-22 lead over the Trojans at halftime.
“I think early on we came out a bit sluggish with some sleepy eyes,” Moorhouse admitted.
“Even though we tied the game up at 10 after the first quarter, I don’t think we woke up until the second quarter,” he said.
“And once we started to get going, it made a big difference.”
“I thought that our intensity was okay along with our defence,” recalled Coyle. “But our offence was just not in sync early on and I’m not really sure why that was.
“But we were able to overcome that and play a really tough second quarter, and we were able to get the lead back and hold on the rest of the way.”
The Muskies sealed the deal with a dominating fourth quarter, where they outscored the Trojans by a 16-7 margin, thanks largely to their defence creating a number of turnovers.
“They [Churchill] were starting to get a little bit frantic out there, and we were able to take advantage of that and also slow things down when we had the ball,” Metke explained.
“We stressed defence all year, and the guys stepped up in their rebounding and their defence during the fourth quarter, which helped us out a lot,” added Coyle.
One of the key contributors in the two wins was Lewis Linklater, who was a monster at both ends of the court in the rebound department.
“On Friday, Lewis was a beast on the glass,” said Coyle. “And on Saturday, he worked his butt off by getting most of his points on offensive rebounds.
“Tim Metke made a couple of great steals late in both of those games, as well,” Coyle added.
“And on Saturday, he set the tone before the game even got started as he was talking to the guys in the locker-room and getting them all fired up.”
Caleb McIntosh led the black-and-gold in scoring Saturday with 16 points, with Anderson adding 13.
While the Muskies celebrated their victory, the Trojans were left to wonder what if as their great season came to an disappointing end.
“I just think that they outworked us and we made too many mistakes,” reasoned head coach Cory Keeler.
“We have a really young team with mostly Grade 11 players and I don’t think they were ready for this, and they are pretty upset right now but you expect that,” he added.
“However, Fort Frances deserved this win as they [were] a better team than we were.”
Next up for the Muskies is the OFSAA ‘AA’ championship, which will take place March 5-7 in St. Catharines.
Even though they don’t know yet who they’ll face in the double-knockout tournament, Coyle is planning to keep things on the same heading into the all-Ontarios.
“There’s no point in bombarding everyone with a bunch of new stuff at this point,” he explained.
“This isn’t like playing a team like Kenora or Dryden that you are familiar with,” he noted. “Everyone’s going in there without having seen or played one another for the most part.
“So we are just going to keep doing what we have been doing all year, and just fine-tune a few little things in practice this week before we head off.”
