Staff
The Donald Young School All-Stars once again have established themselves as the team to beat when it comes to Grade 8 boys’ basketball in the Rainy River District Athletic Association.
The defending regional champs went 5-0 to capture the Jim Oster Memorial Tournament on Saturday at Robert Moore School–capping their march with a 17-13 victory over the Crossroads Tornadoes in the final.
Braydon Christiansen hit two pretty running shots along the baseline for DYS early in the first half to counter two putbacks by Jayden Asselin of the Tornadoes, with a made free throw by Jacob Argue the difference in a 5-4 lead for the All-Stars.
Argue then went to work from the floor, drilling a pair of long jumpers to stretch the lead to five.
Brennan Jourdain’s 15-footer for Crossroads was matched by Jevonte Phillips’ putback that gave the All-Stars an 11-6 bulge at halftime.
Argue later hit his third shot from the floor before Phillips netted a pair from the line to extend the lead to nine and put Crossroads’ backs to the wall.
A late surge, fuelled by two steals and accompanying breakaway lay-ups by Santino Smith, pulled the Tornadoes closer.
But missed lay-ups by Ashton Cousineau and Smith dented the momentum and the All-Stars were able to hang on from there.
DYS dominated the Riverview Royals 16-7 in their semi-final showdown–leading 12-2 at the half.
The All-Stars finished first in Pool ‘A’ after beating the Tornadoes 15-8, the Robert Moore School Mustangs (Yellow) 16-5, and St. Pat’s (Atikokan) 16-6.
Crossroads, meanwhile, made a remarkable silver-medal run after finishing dead last in its home tournament three weeks earlier.
They advanced to the final after edging the St. Francis Sentinels 12-10 in their thrilling semi-final battle.
After losing 6-4 to the Sentinels in the season-opening tournament, the Tornadoes stifled St. Francis’ offence for most of the game–taking a 10-4 lead in the second half.
The Sentinels used jumpers from Christian Wiedenhoeft and Darian Klem and a putback by Declan Webb, along with a furious full-court press, to go on a 6-0 run and tie the game.
Then they got possession of the ball with 41 seconds left in regulation time and a chance to hold for the last shot before a possible overtime.
But confusion coming out of their own zone led to Smith stealing a back pass by Connor Belluz and busting in to make the winning lay-up.
Crossroads finished second in Pool ‘A’ with a 2-1 record, nipping RMS Yellow 7-5 and thrashing St. Pat’s 24-1.
The Mustangs blanked St. Pat’s 25-0 to go 1-2 and end up third in the pool ahead of St. Pat’s (0-3).
St. Francis dumped RMS Blue 14-8 in its opener and then were tied 6-6 at the half with Riverview before its offence went ice cold–getting shut out in the second half and losing 10-6.
But the Sentinels, needing to beat Atikokan by five points or more to crack the top two in Pool ‘B’ and make the playoffs, played an almost flawless game in crushing the previously-unbeaten Voyageurs 24-2.
That put St. Francis, Atikokan, and Riverview in a three-way tie at 2-1, with each team having beaten each other once in pool play.
It came down to a second tie-breaker involving each team’s points scored divided by the same points added to each team’s points allowed.
The equation translated into the Sentinels (.68) taking top spot, with the Royals second (.62) and the Voyageurs (.41) left on the outside looking in.
Riverview pounded RMS Blue 16-4 and lost 12-10 to the Voyageurs.
Atikokan also recorded a 17-10 triumph over RMS Blue, which ended up fourth in Pool ‘B’ at 0-3.
Over at Fort High, St. Francis went 5-0 to bring home the championship from a Grade 8 girls’ tournament hosted by the Muskies (Grades 7/8).
The Sentinels finished first in Pool ‘A,’ then defeated Pool ‘B’ runner-up DYS in the semi-finals before edging Pool ‘B’ winner Riverview 12-8 in the final.
Riverview topped Atikokan in the other semi-final before the All-Stars downed the Voyageurs in the bronze-medal game.
The RRDAA season will culminate Saturday with the Grade 8 girls’ and boys’ regional championships hosted by St. Francis.
Fort High will be used for the event, which will feature 17 teams between the two divisions.
