Joey Payeur
It was every coach’s dream come to life.
Matt Swing had a team-high 14 points but there was nary a player in a black-and-gold jersey who didn’t contribute something positive to the Muskies’ 63-34 romp over the Kenora Broncos in the NorWOSSA junior boys’ basketball final here Thursday.
“All the guys played their best game of the season today, from the starters to everyone on the bench,” said elated Muskie coach Rob McGinnis, whose team led 24-10 after the first quarter and 37-15 at halftime.
Fort High had the bye to the final after finishing in first place during the regular season with a 7-1 record.
The Broncos, who got a game-high 15 points from Dylan Andrews, had to grind out a 60-55 semi-final victory over the Dryden Eagles earlier in the day.
The fatigue factor may have been in play for Kenora in the final. But rested or not, the Broncos would have been hard-pressed to stop the inside twin towers’ combo of Swing and Jacob Empey, who had 11 points and was a shot-stuffing nightmare for the visitors with an unofficial total of seven blocks.
“Jacob was amazing with the blocks,” McGinnis raved about the Grade 10 centre’s defensive clinic, which included two efforts that Empey rejected off the backboard after catching a seemingly home-free Bronco from behind.
“Having the game at home and not having to play two games was a plus for us,” McGinnis conceded.
“[But] I wouldn’t actually want to be in first if the playoffs were away from home and have to sit around all day in someone else’s gym,” he added.
Point guard Ian Jodoin, who chipped in with nine points, was another key figure in Thursday’s triumph.
“Every time Kenora gave a little push back, Ian slowed the game down and settled our guys down with a steal or a bucket,” lauded McGinnis, who wasn’t sure going into the game which Muskie team he was going to see.
“We beat them by 10 [points] earlier in the week but they beat us by 18 the last visit there,” he noted.
“It was important for us to get lots of put-backs and block-outs with our size advantage and fight for the rebounds,” McGinnis added.
“We finally did that today.”
Meanwhile, the story didn’t end as well for the Muskie senior boys, who were overpowered 92-52 by Dryden in the title game Thursday to settle for the silver medal.
The Eagles now face the Thunder Bay champs (still to be crowned) in the best-of-three NWOSSAA final there to determine who will advance to the OFSAA ‘AA’ championship March 3-5 in Perth.
Fort High head coach Bryce Coyle summed up the main reason for the loss in two words.
“Caleb McIntosh,” he said, referring to his team’s leading scorer this season with multiple 30-plus point outings to his credit, but who was dismissed from the squad last week.
“Let’s face it, and not to take anything away from Dryden, but it hurts to lose your leading scorer a week before the playoffs,” he noted.
“It definitely changed the way we prepared for the game.”
The absence of McIntosh, who scored 49 points against the Eagles in their last meeting, left the Muskies looking for answers on both ends of the floor and coming up with few.
Dryden shot the lights out early—exploding to a 39-12 lead after one quarter and a 67-20 advantage at the half.
Kurtis Burnell was especially potent for the visitors, netting 15 points in the first quarter alone and 26 by halftime. He then watched the entire second half from the bench with the game firmly in the Eagles’ control.
The same went for fellow Eagle Nick Skillen, who had 14 points in the first half and then shared some bench space with Burnell.
Connor Bujold scored 16 to lead the Muskies while Braeden Caul had 14 and Cole Edwards seven.
“Considering where we started the year, it was a success,” said Coyle.
“We didn’t reach some of the goals we set out to achieve,” he admitted. “But our main goal was to improve every game, both individually and as a team.”
