Dan Falloon
The tiers in the NorWOSSA junior boys’ basketball league have been well-defined so far this season.
The Muskies are, far and away, sitting on top of the league.
They are 5-0 in NorWOSSA play so far this season, outscoring their opponents 257-115 over those games and they haven’t won by less than 12.
Head coach Greg Ste. Croix maintained that while the Muskies continue to develop, they already were a very talented team to start the season.
“We’re firing on all cylinders,” he enthused. “Our very first quarter of our very first game, we played as fine basketball as we ever have, which is a great way to start a season.
“Every one of our games that we come out on the winning end, the play has been, most of the time, the level has been very high,” he noted.
“We’re a pretty high-skilled team.”
Fort High even has gotten into the habit of putting on a show for non-NorWOSSA rivals. They are coming off an exhibition win in which they tamed the Baudette Bears 55-39 here last Tuesday.
“We hit five or six ‘threes’ in the second quarter against Baudette, which was a terrific quarter of shooting,” recalled Ste. Croix.
“It was a pretty convincing win.”
The weekend before, the juniors made some noise in Thunder Bay, claiming silver at a tournament after slipping past some city foes along the way.
The Muskies pummelled St. Pat’s 49-34 and got past Westgate 32-25 to advance to the final.
They lost the championship to St. Ignatius 55-34, but had hung around for most of the game (the score was 35-30 at end of the third quarter).
“A silver medal in Thunder Bay is a really good showing,” Ste Croix lauded. “There are a lot of good teams, and a number of very good Thunder Bay teams.
“Our team is definitely moving in the right direction,” he added. “We’re definitely looking to improve on both sides of the ball.
“In the last week, the tournament plus Tuesday, our spacing on offence and ball movement has been very good,” he continued. “Our shooting has improved.
“All players are making improvements. Everyone on the team is really improving and working hard to get better.”
The black-and-gold also are making strides to allow fewer points, which Ste. Croix saw coming together in Thunder Bay.
“One of the big things that helped us down in Thunder Bay was our defensive intensity and limiting quality scoring chances,” he recalled.
“The kids are really starting to get an understanding of their role on the team and what they need to do to be successful.
“It’s different for each player, and some of the guys who are in Grade 9, it’s a learning process for them, and they’re starting to get the hang of it, which is very important.”
Fort High boasts nine Grade 9 players against five from Grade 10, so the rookies have been called upon to make a contribution, which has increased as the season progressed.
“They’re learning what they need to do to be successful,” Ste. Croix said. “When you have six or seven really strong players, it’s sometimes difficult for the other guys to get out there and really push themselves because, at times, they may think, ‘Well, I don’t need to work my hardest because we’ll just put the other guys in and they’ll do all the work for us.’
“But they’re starting to figure out that ‘Hey, if we come in there and we work our butts off, then the game of basketball is much more enjoyable.’”
Even though the juniors have rolled through NorWOSSA to this point, Ste. Croix isn’t making room in the trophy case just yet.
“One of the things that I’ve got to saying with the team [is] it’s one day at a time, one game at a time, one practice at a time,” he stressed. “I don’t really look too far ahead towards the end of the season.
“We like to just continue to keep our feet planted firmly on the ground, and just try to keep our skills getting better and better.
“We have a strong belief that if we keep improving our own game that we should be okay,” he noted.
The Muskies will head to the Kenora invitational tournament this weekend, then will have a rematch with Baudette on Feb. 1.
They’ll conclude the NorWOSSA season with visits to Kenora on Feb. 4 and 11, and a home date with Dryden on Feb. 9.
