Senior hoopsters win tourney title

The Muskie senior boys’ basketball team won a six-team tournament in Winnipeg on Saturday after an 85-79 victory over the Churchill Bulldogs.
The black-and-gold fought back from a 13-point deficit midway through the third quarter to lead 59-58 going into the final stanza.
Then they led by as many as eight in the fourth until Churchill clawed their way back to make it just a three-point game with a couple of minutes to play.
But Churchill was in foul trouble and the Muskies took full advantage, sending their guards to the basket and forcing the Bulldogs to foul them.
That strategy worked to perfection down the stretch as John Sivonen and Gary Wager combined to go eight of nine from the line.
Sivonen ended up with 25 points to lead the Muskies while Wager added 18. Evan Woodland netted 12 while Jamie Algie (11) and Doug LaBelle (eight) also were strong offensively.
Sivonen was named tournament MVP while Woodland was selected to the all-star team.
“It was a nice win because we lost the championship last year,” Muskie co-coach Paul Noonan noted.
Co-coach Al McManaman agreed it was a good win as the team prepares for the NorWOSSA playoffs in just over a week’s time.
“Churchill plays an up-tempo game and our guys played hard–even when we were down by 13,” he said.
The Muskies started the championship game slowly, finding themselves tied 20-20 after the first quarter and then trailing by eight (45-37) at halftime.
But the Muskies opened the tournament Friday night with their usual fast start–jumping out to a 29-8 first-quarter advantage en route to a wide-open 97-80 win over Fort Richmond Collegiate.
Fort Richmond sliced into that lead against the Muskies’ bench to close the gap to 43-37 by the break but then the black-and-gold pulled away in the second half.
Sivonen led the way with 26 points. Woodland added 19, LaBelle netted 14 while Wager had 13.
The Muskies advanced to the final with a convincing 98-54 rout over the River East Kodiaks. Sivonen once again paced the Muskies with 22 points while Wager added 17.
Algie, Woodland, and Jock Gemmell each netted a dozen.
The Muskies’ next exhibition action is tonight when they travel to Baudette to take on the Bears, then they’ll host the NorWOSSA playoffs Feb. 25.
Meanwhile, the junior Muskies lost 87-38 to Dakota Collegiate (Winnipeg) in the fifth-place game of the KIT in Kenora last weekend.
But the club put up a huge effort in knocking off Churchill (Thunder Bay) 59-52. Geoff Gerley was the Muskies’ top scorer with 17 points while Kevin Gemmell netted 13 and Dan Poperechny added 11.
The black-and-gold opened the tournament with a 65-22 loss to the Grant Park Pirates (Winnipeg).
Muskie head coach Greg Ste. Croix said the highlight of the tournament for them was beating Churchill.
“It was the result of a lot of effort, a lot of hard work, and sweat from guys,” he noted.