Junior team falls to Broncos

It was oh so close.
Trailing 38-35 in the NorWOSSA semi-final against the Dryden Eagles last Friday in Kenora, the Muskies elected to put the ball in the hands of their hottest shooter, Facial Cheblaoui, to try a game-tying three-pointer.
And why not? He had made a long-range shot with 20 seconds left to pull the black-and-gold to within three points.
Cheblaoui again made his shot, this time at the buzzer, but his foot was ruled to have been on the line to negate the three-pointer. Instead, the two points left the Muskies on the short end of the 38-37 final.
The loss was a surprising one because the junior hoopsters had beaten Dryden all four times during the regular season, and looked to be shoo-ins to advance to the NorWOSSA final against the Kenora Broncos.
But head coach Ian Simpson admitted his team definitely didn’t bring their ‘A’ game to the floor come playoff time.
“The guys played hard but turnovers were a big problem in all aspects, throwing the ball in-bounds and passing,” he noted. “It was a horrendous day. It was just one of those days.”
Despite the fact the Muskies struggled for most of the afternoon, they actually led for most of the game until about the six-minute mark of the fourth quarter.
That’s when Dryden got hot and the Muskies went cold as the Eagles grabbed an eight-point lead with three minutes to go. It proved to be too much to overcome.
Simpson said Cheblaoui and Roy Tighe had strong games for the black-and-gold in the loss. And he felt the season wasn’t a loss because of their early playoff exit.
Rather, he saw this year as a chance to build on the program even more for the future.
“Even though the boys played tentative in the last game, they played hard and had a good season,” Simpson said.