Considered the best high school basketball player in Northwestern Ontario, Hammarskjold’s Scott Seeley lived up to that billing as he led the Vikings to a sweep of the Muskies in the best-of-three NWOSSAA senior boys’ basketball final here last weekend.
Seeley was unstoppable in Hammarskjold’s 57-41 win Saturday to clinch the gold medal and a berth at the all-Ontarios this week–scoring a game-high 36 points.
“He did pick up his game exceptionally well today,” Viking coach Bruno Corbin said after Saturday’s win.
“I thought Fort Frances played us tough, especially in the third quarter, but we turned it around in the fourth–Seeley led the way,” he remarked.
Muskie co-coach Al McManaman agreed Seeley definitely picked up his play a notch in the second game.
“In the first game [Friday], we pretty much had him under control but he was unstoppable [Saturday],” McManaman noted. “The other guys didn’t hurt us at all.”
“I think we shut him down and put a dent in his game [Friday],” agreed Muskie co-coach Paul Noonan. “[But] he’s such a talent one-on-one.”
Still, the Muskies also had trouble finding their scoring touch in the first half of Saturday’s game. They missed numerous relatively easy shots and coughed up several turnovers, to find themselves trailing 39-18 at halftime.
“We want to be hitting on all cylinders in a game like this,” said McManaman. “If we could have stroked a few three-pointers, it would have helped us.”
Noonan agreed poor shooting cost them, particularly at the start of both games.
The Muskies also lost their cool–committing several technical fouls in a three-minute span in the second quarter that Hammarskjold converted into 12 points.
To their credit, the Muskies fought back in the third quarter, outscoring the Vikings by a remarkable 18-1 margin to close the gap to 40-36 heading into the final stanza.
But just as quickly, it was the Vikings who got the momentum back, going on an 11-2 run early in the quarter–jumpstarted by a three-pointer from Geoff Scott.
“We’ve got the best shooting team in Thunder Bay and we probably have nine guys who can shoot the three [pointer] consistently,” said Corbin.
“We would play good in one or two quarters and then go cold,” noted Noonan.
Evan Woodland led the Muskies on Saturday with 12 points. John Sivonen added 10 and Doug LaBelle had nine.
< *c>Battle to the finish
The opening game Friday was a much closer affair, with the black-and-gold leading 59-58 in the late going.
But an undisciplined foul on Seeley after he made an easy basket underneath gave the Vikings a three-point play and a 61-59 lead with 1:16 to play.
Then the Muskies turned the ball over twice in the final minute, forcing them to foul Hammarskjold players, who made their free throws count to seal the victory.
Seeley scored a game-high 19 points. Woodland had 15 for the Muskies, Wager added 13 (including three three-pointers), while Sivonen and Jamie Algie each netted 12.
Hammarskjold had led 16-13 after the first quarter, then stretched that lead to double figures–37-27–by the half. The Muskies had taken a 27-25 lead with 3:17 left in the second but the Vikings’ shooters got hot again–outscoring the home side 12-0 in the last two minutes.
The Vikings also enjoyed a 10-point lead–50-40–heading into the fourth quarter. But the Muskies stormed back and grabbed the lead, albeit short-lived, after Wager hit one of two free throws.
Meanwhile, both Muskie coaches stressed they’ll be looking to improve the team’s schedule next season, including playing more games against U.S. teams in order to close the gap between themselves and teams like Hammarskjold, who will be losing some key players, including Seeley.
“We weren’t at the level we needed to be,” McManaman said, even though the Muskies had finished 8-0 in NorWOSSA play during the regular season.
Featured
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
