Staff
After manufacturing plenty of offence in their first three games, the St. Francis Sentinels took their final step towards a championship by living off their defence.
The Sentinels allowed only one basket in the second half in clawing their way to a 10-7 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas (Kenora) in the gold-medal game of the Jim Oster Invitational Grade 8 boys’ basketball tournament Saturday at Robert Moore School.
St. Francis cruised to first place in Pool ‘A’ with a 3-0 mark after an opening 28-12 victory over the host Mustangs, followed by a 29-1 thumping of the Sturgeon Creek Sturgeons (Barwick), and a 20-5 win in the winner-goes-for-gold match-up with the previously unbeaten Riverview Royals (Rainy River).
The Sentinels’ offence was powered by tournament leading scorer Braeden Caul.
He teamed up with fellow guards Conor McManaman and a courageous James Brown, who was playing through a shoulder injury sustained two days earlier during a hockey game, to dissect opposing defences from the outside with their shooting and passing attributes.
Meanwhile, Damon Perreault, Dusty Good, and Josh Quesnel made important offensive contributions from the forward spots, with Perreault especially strong from the free-throw line.
In the final, though, it was a matter of whether the centre tandem of Aaron Luu-Hedman and Josh Cousineau could handle the twin towers of St. Thomas Aquinas in the paint.
The Saints’ long-legged pair had caused fits for their opponents on their way to winning Pool ‘B’ with a 3-0 mark, thanks to victories over the Mine Centre Thunderbirds (28-6), the Crossroads Tornados from Devlin (14-0), and the J.W. Walker Wildcats (6-2) in a defensive duel to push the Wildcats into the bronze-medal game versus Riverview.
But Luu-Hedman, who was a force all day on the offensive and defensive boards, and Cousineau blanketed their Kenora counterparts, holding them to no points in the final.
St. Francis, which fed off the energy provided by a spirited quartet of enthusiastic Sentinels’ cheerleaders, trailed 5-4 at halftime of the title game, but scratched out just enough offence and milked the clock to perfection in the final minute to pull off the victory.
In the bronze-medal final, Riverview averted a near catastrophe to score a late basket and emerge with a 10-8 win over J.W. Walker.
With the game tied 8-8 in the late stages, a Royals’ player became confused on an inbounds play in the Riverview backcourt and hoisted up a shot on his own basket.
Thankfully for the Royals, he missed, and the Wildcats, equally baffled by the situation, got the rebound and threw what they thought was a deep pass to an open man downcourt.
Instead, they were whistled for an over-and-back violation and the Royals sunk the winning points soon after.
Riverview finished second in Pool ‘A’ with a 2-1 mark after beating Sturgeon Creek 11-8 and edging Robert Moore 12-10 before losing to the Sentinels.
J.W. Walker began the day with a 16-5 defeat of Crossroads and a 17-6 pounding of Mine Centre before falling to the Saints to also end up at 2-1 in the preliminary round.
The Mustangs salvaged their day with a 16-7 win over Sturgeon Creek to put Robert Moore in third in Pool ‘A’ at 1-2 while the Sturgeons closed the event at 0-3.
Crossroads also won its last game of the day, holding off a young but plucky Thunderbirds’ squad 20-13.
The Tornados were third in Pool ‘B’ at 1-2 while Mine Centre, which won the regional championship last year but were decimated by the graduation of many of their best players, ended up 0-3.
The regional championship will be held at Fort Frances High School on March 27.
