Joey Payeur
Having gritted their way through a morning semi-final game, the Muskie senior boys’ basketball team could have been forgiven for waving the white flag after falling behind the Dryden Eagles in the NorWOSSA final later Friday at Fort High.
The problem for Dryden was the black-and-gold didn’t know any better.
Down by seven points in the second quarter and by five entering the fourth, the Muskies decided they rather would hold onto their reign as NorWOSSA champs for the second-straight season by digging in their heels defensively to capture a 54-51 victory.
“We never got down on ourselves and we’re in every game to never quit,” said veteran guard Joey Angus, who had eight points in the final.
“That’s what helped us have a comeback.”
The Muskies struggled in the semi-final against the Kenora Broncos but pulled away with a 19-8 run in the fourth to win 48-34.
Granted, it may be a short-lived wave of momentum that carries the black-and-gold into the best-of-three NWOSSAA final this weekend in Thunder Bay.
Awaiting are their conquerors of a year ago–the defending NWOSSAA champion St. Ignatius Falcons, who swept Fort High here in two convincing victories (66-35 and 64-30) and may be even better this season.
With 6’11” centre Aaron Burchat and 6’7″ forward Jared Kreiner blocking out the skyline at both ends of the court, the Falcons rolled to the Thunder Bay league title undefeated and never were pushed hard along the way.
That included a matchup with the Muskies in a tournament game earlier this season, which gave Fort High an early look at the huge challenge on tap.
“Hopefully, all our guys can grow six inches overnight. That would be a good start,” joked Muskie co-coach Bryce Coyle.
“I said it last year, St. Ignatius is the best team in this region by a good margin,” he noted.
“To beat them, you have to play a nearly flawless game.
“It’s going to be tough,” Coyle admitted. “The plan is to go down there, play hard, have fun, and hope that they are gracious hosts.”
In Friday’s NorWOSSA final against Dryden, the Muskies gave up a 7-0 run to trail 15-8 in the second quarter.
Aaron Bujold, with a team-leading 17 points, made a lay-up to give Fort High its first lead at 19-18 with 3:42 left in the half, but Dryden scored the final four points before the break to go up 22-19.
The teams stayed close throughout the third, which ended with Jarret Hicks making steals on consecutive possessions and going in for lay-ups to give the Eagles a 36-31 cushion.
Back-to-back lay-ups by Bujold with less than four minutes to go were countered by two straight lay-ups from Graham Szmon to make it 46-45 Dryden with under two minutes to go.
Liam Metke, whose veteran leadership as team captain has been a key ingredient to this year’s team, made himself the focal point to put the game back in the Muskies’ control for good.
Metke fouled Hicks to prevent an easy lay-up for a three-point lead, with Hicks clanking both his free throws off the rim to keep it a one-point game.
That led to Metke getting his own steal and a lay-up, which he was fouled on.
He missed the free throw but burst to the rim to get his own rebound and was hacked on his put-back attempt.
This time, Metke made both free throws for a 49-46 lead.
Bujold hit five of six free throws in the final minute while Hicks missed a tying three-pointer with 40 seconds left and then another “trey” with 12 ticks to go.
He did manage to drain one from long range with less than four seconds left.
But Metke reeled in the in-bounds pass and sprinted away from the Eagles’ foul attempts to stop the clock to bring about the buzzer.
“At some points today, the shots weren’t falling. That’s basketball,” Bujold reasoned.
“But we just keep taking shots until they start going in.
“Defensively, we gave ourselves energy with a couple of stops and that led to some fast breaks for us,” he added.
Co-coach Greg Ste. Croix admitted to being somewhat in shock that the team overcame a 1-3 record in the regular season against the Eagles to emerge victorious Friday.
“They battled all season,” he noted. “We knew it wasn’t going to be poetry but they got the job done.
“For me, there are no first- and second-year guys on this team,” Ste. Croix added.
“We need contributions from everyone,” he stressed. “If you go on the floor, we need something from you.
“If you’re not doing it offensively, then you have to come up big on defence and got to clamp down.”
