Dan Falloon
With one game left to decide the NorWOSSA champion, Muskie junior boys’ basketball coach Greg Ste. Croix is reiterating the same message he preached all season: keep the fundamentals strong.
“At this time of the year, if you can do the little things really well, the bigger picture takes care of itself,” he reasoned.
“We can just continue to work on the basics.”
The black-and-gold finished a perfect 8-0 in the NorWOSSA regular season, outscoring their opponents 450-215.
Ste. Croix feels his ace-in-the-hole going into Friday’s final in Dryden against either the host Eagles or Kenora Broncos is Grade 9 player Will Anderson, who netted 26 points in a 73-32 spanking of the Broncos in their regular-season finale last Thursday.
“He really elevated his play, and those are the kinds of performances that we’ll need from everyone,” lauded Ste. Croix.
“If we fire on all cylinders on Friday, we’ll be very difficult to beat.”
Kenora and Dryden with meet first in the semi-final on Friday for the right to play the Muskies for NorWOSSA gold.
Ste. Croix maintained he is preparing his team for both outcomes, but feels that with the Eagles’ home-court advantage and a bit more talented team, that Dryden likely will be their opponent.
“I just think Dryden might be a little bit more athletic than Kenora,” noted Ste. Croix. “[But] anything can happen in a one-game showdown.
“In a one-game showdown, again, we could face Kenora, but just having seen both Kenora and Dryden in the last week, I’m sort of expecting Dryden to come out on top,” he added.
“We’re preparing for either team,” Ste. Croix stressed. “We’re just going over our basics, making sure everyone’s ready to go.”
The narrowest margin between the Eagles and Muskies in NorWOSSA play came last Tuesday (Feb. 9) in Fort High’s 59-33 win here—a 26-point difference.
But Ste. Croix isn’t going to take the Eagles lightly, knowing that Dryden has players that may be able to slow the Muskies’ offensive juggernaut.
“Dryden has both size and athletic ability,” he stressed. “They’ve got two guys on the post that are big, strong guys and could keep us from getting to the basket, which we really try to do.
“They match up well with us,” he remarked. “They’re big and they’re athletic, and we have to play really well to beat them.”
Ste. Croix was glad to have earned the bye to the final, getting the chance to watch the Broncos and Eagles slug it out beforehand. But he feels Dryden’s friendly crowd could help boost the Eagles should they mount a championship challenge.
“They’re on their home court, which for any team is always an advantage,” Ste. Croix explained. “Moreso in a finals situation, although they’ll have to play two games in one day and we’ll only have to play one.
“Sometimes, the semi-final game becomes very emotional because you definitely have to win, you cannot afford to take any chances, and it’s always tough,” he added.
“Two games at a very high level is very difficult to do.”
