Lucas Punkari
With the bitter taste of last year’s 51-50 loss in Game 3 of the NWOSSAA final to the Sir Winston Churchill Trojans still etched in their memories, the Muskie senior boys’ basketball team was looking to avenge that loss against the Superior Gryphons in Thunder Bay this past weekend—with a berth to next week’s OFSAA ‘AA’ championship in North Bay on the line.
Instead, the Muskies were left to taste the bitter pill of defeat yet again after a pair of late-game losses.
After giving up a buzzer-beating three-point shot to fall 38-36 score in Game 1 of the best-of-three NWOSSAA final Friday afternoon, Fort High was on the losing end of a 38-35 decision to the Gryphons in Game 2 on Saturday morning in a controversial finish.
With one last chance to force overtime with four seconds to go, the black-and-gold were able to get the ball down the length of the court when Justin Anderson was fouled before trying a game-tying three-point shot.
“It was debatable as to whether or not Justin was shooting as the clock expired, but the referee made the call and then quickly ran out,” Muskie coach Paul Noonan noted.
“It was reminiscent of what happened last year when there was a disputed call, and you could say that with the way that the guys felt after the game, but the boys played really well,” he lauded.
The Muskies led 20-14 at halftime Saturday before the host Gryphons came roaring back in the second half, thanks in large part to a 17-point performance by highly-touted Alex Robichaud.
Josh Strain led the Muskies on offence with nine points while Caleb McIntosh added eight.
“Both teams played a really aggressive zone defence so it was really tight out there,” Noonan explained.
“In hindsight, though, having lost to the Gryphons by double digits twice earlier in the year, I thought the boys played really well and it made for a thrilling NWOSSAA final,” he added.
Friday afternoon’s opener saw the Muskies trail 30-13 score at halftime before outscoring the Gryphons by a 17-5 margin in the third quarter.
With the black-and-gold effectively shutting down Robichaud, the Gryphons were held off of the scoresheet for almost the entire fourth quarter before fifth-year guard Noel Parker drained a three-pointer as the buzzer sounded to give his team the come-from-behind win.
“He [Parker] is kid who normally doesn’t take those type of shots,” Noonan said.
“In the end, though, we had some key turnovers and some missed free throws down the stretch, which if we hadn’t of had those problems, we wouldn’t have been in that situation late,” he reasoned.
“If we had won that first game, that would of changed a lot of things for Saturday because there wouldn’t be as much pressure in trying to win two games in the same day,” Noonan added.
McIntosh led the way for the Muskies on Friday with 13 points, while Anderson chipping in 12.
With a majority of the team set to graduate, Noonan feels that despite being unable to advance to OFSAA, the season still was a successful one.
“I’m extremely proud of the guys, and they put in a really strong effort on their way to a very successful 20-7 season,” Noonan enthused.
