Mitch Calvert
It took them nearly half the game but once the Muskies figured out the visiting Churchill Trojans, they never looked back.
The senior boys’ basketball team closed out their home tournament with a 56-53 victory over Thunder Bay’s lone representative here, overcoming a 14-point first-half deficit.
The Muskies finished the tournament with a 3-1 record, but we’re awarded second place behind St. Thomas Aquinas (also 3-1) because they had opened the tournament with a 60-54 loss to the Saints.
“To get that rally late in the first half really helped us,” Muskie head coach Paul Noonan said. “The guys came down to make it a four-point game at the half, and they realized they could compete with these guys.”
Kurt Hill and Travis Stromness had 14 points apiece against Churchill, much of that coming from hard work in the paint, while Justin Anderson netted 10.
But it looked bleak early on as the visiting Trojans built an 18-7 first-quarter lead—and were up by as much as 14 points before Noonan called a time-out to regroup his troops.
What was said that turned the momentum around?
“I stood there for the full 30 seconds and didn’t say a word,” Noonan said matter-of-factly. “I basically just looked at them and I think they got the message.
“We had a fairly easy game [Saturday] morning and beat [Dryden] by something like 30 points, and then I think the guys were kind of on their heels to start this game, and Churchill took advantage of it,” he added.
Muskie veteran Garnet Cornell said the turning point was a combination of a big dunk from Hill and an adjustment in strategy.
“We had two big guys out on the floor and they left one of them open, which just happened to be Kurt Hill, and we got the ball to him and he dunked it and that sparked us and was the start of something good,” Cornell enthused.
“We started in man [coverage], but their offence usually runs around in man, so when we switched to a 3-2 zone, it caught them off-guard,” he added. “And our ball movement on offence was amazing and [we] got our big guys involved.”
Cornell added five points—none bigger than a three-pointer late in the fourth quarter that put the Muskies up by 10. It turned out to be the difference in the game.
“That was automatic. I just threw it up and it happened to go in,” Cornell admitted. “I kind of like being the floor general, but we also have veterans like Travis [Stromness] and Jeremy and Dex [Dexter Hunsperger] who came back for a second year here, and Travis had an amazing game.”
After opening the tournament with the loss to St. Thomas Aquinas, the black-and-gold rebounded with a 53-46 win over the Kenora Broncos. Jeremy Strain led all shooters with 21 points while Stromness added 13 and Cornell chipped in with 10.
The Muskies only other game saw them trounce Dryden 55-24 on Saturday morning. Cornell had 15 points to pace the onslaught.
The Saints’ lone blemish came in a 60-54 loss to the Kenora Broncos, but they took first place over the Muskies because they had won the head-to-head meeting.
The Broncos and Trojans both finished at 2-2, with Dryden bringing up the rear at 0-4.
Cornell said ending the tournament with a win over Churchill sends a strong message, especially since the Trojans won a tournament in Thunder Bay and look to be the top team there right now.
“We definitely sent a message to them that ‘you guys aren’t just going to walk through us,’” Cornell stressed.
The Muskies won NorWOSSA gold last year but failed to advance to OFSAA.
“We’re still the same [team] individual skill-wise, but I believe that we are definitely a more tighter squad than last year,” Cornell noted. “So with that in mind, we aren’t so much a one-on-one kind of team anymore, but we work together as a squad now.”
Noonan agreed the make-up of this team has the potential to improve on last season’s success.
“It’s still early in the season, but I’m confident with how things are going to go in NorWOSSA,” he remarked. “But we have to try to play stronger teams, and that’s why it’s nice to play tournaments like these.”
The last OFSAA appearance for the Muskie senior boys was in 2001 but the ingredients seem to be in place for another run at it this year.
“I think this team has a ways to go yet to achieve the level of competitiveness that team [in 2001] had, but it’s very close, and by the end of this season I could see them being as good or better than that team,” Noonan noted.
“I think we match up well against [Churchill] and would look forward to playing them in the bid to get to OFSAA at the end.”
