Muskies look to slay Vikings

It’s a rematch they’ve waited for all season.
With the memory of a 70-38 pasting at the hands of the Hammarskjold Vikings earlier this season, the Muskie senior boys’ basketball team would love nothing better than to turn the tables on their Thunder Bay rivals in the best-of-three NWOSSAA showdown that starts here Friday.
Game one is slated for 5 p.m. Friday while the second game of the best-of-three series is slated for 11:30 a.m. Saturday. The third game, if necessary, will be played that afternoon at 3:30 p.m.
The Vikings have made it a habit of blowing out teams this season en route to a perfect 14-0 league record and the Thunder Bay crown. But the Muskies were no slouches, either–finishing 8-0 in league play and turning in some impressive performances at tournaments.
And the Muskies, coming off their first NorWOSSA crown since the late ’70s, are confident.
“We can beat them,” co-coach Paul Noonan said. “In the loss to them, we didn’t have [Gary] Wager. I think it will be close and we’ll have to play our best basketball to win.”
Noonan was referring to the addition of Wager midway through the season, which added yet another weapon to their already-potent offensive arsenal of John Sivonen, Evan Woodland, Doug LaBelle, and either Jock Gemmell or Jamie Algie.
But the Vikings have a pair of standouts in Scott Seeley and Geoff Scott. And the Muskies will have to contain both of them, especially Seeley, if they have a chance at moving on to the all-Ontarios later this month.
“I think we have the advantage over them in that they have to shut down everybody,” said Woodland. “They have only got two . . . you have to shut down their two guys.”
Noonan admitted he’d prefer to have his lineup compared to Hammarskjold’s one-two combination.
“I’d rather have the depth of my lineup with the five guys on the floor,” he said. “They can distribute the ball to anyone on the floor [and] that’s where we’re different from the beginning of the year.
“We definitely have a real chemistry,” he added. “We know where everyone is on the floor.”
That was evident in the Muskies’ 81-36 trouncing of the Kenora Broncos in the NorWOSSA final here last Friday. The black-and-gold were in synch all game, dishing off one fantastic pass after another, which then were converted into uncontested layups.
Woodland had a field day dishing off the ball underneath to LaBelle, who finished with 11 points, and the Muskies, as a whole, were constantly getting open near the basket.
Wager led the black-and-gold with 23 points (including three three-pointers) while Sivonen added 22.
The Muskies jumped out to a 25-9 first-quarter lead, then stretched that to 46-24 at the half on a buzzer beater by Woodland.
The black-and-gold definitely will have to have their offence in synch this weekend as they try to crack Hammarksjold’s air-tight defence.
The Vikings use their speed on defence to stymie the other team’s offence and create turnovers. That’s exactly what they did against the Muskies back in December in limiting them to their season-low 38 points.
“Part of the problem is that they play a very aggressive defence,” said Noonan. “A full-court man-to-man that frustrates their opponents.”
But that pressing style may work to the Muskies’ advantage as the black-and-gold are so quick in setting up plays and dishing the ball off. They showed that against Kenora.
“With our big guys down low, like Gemmell and [Jamie] Algie, they go to the open holes,” said Woodland.