Sabres win SWJHAA Jr. A Boys Basketball Championship

Livingstone School's Jr. A Boys Sabres: SWJHAA Champs
C. Davis photos and videos

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

Livingstone School's Junior A Boys basketball team earned the South Western Junior High Athletic Association (SWJHAA) 2012/2013 banner after wins at the SWJHAA tournament hosted by St. Michael's School on Saturday, February 16.  St. Michael's Dragons took second place.

Six teams participated in the tournament, including Crowsnest Pass Panthers, Matthew Halton Hawks, Piikani Hustlers, Kainai Warriors, St. Michael's Dragons, and the Sabres.  Player of the Game awards were nominated by the opposing teams.

Here's how it played out:


Panthers vs Hustlers

Hustlers vs Panthers

The tournament began with an extremely close game between the Piikani (Brocket) Hustlers and the Crowsnest Panthers. The Hustlers established a 12-7 lead in the first half.  In the third quarter Logan Wall of the Panthers scored 8 points of 10 for his team, with the Hustlers shut out of the quarter, putting the Panthers ahead 17-12.  The Hustlers rebounded in the final quarter, scoring 15 points to 7 for the Panthers.  Final score:  Hustlers 27, Panthers 24.

Top scorer for the Panthers was Logan Wall with 14 points.
Top scorer for the Hustlers was Byron North Peigan with 8 points.

Player of the Game was awarded to Johnny North Peigan (Hustlers) and Shawn Flannery (Panthers).

Warriors vs Hawks

Warriors vs Hawks

Despite being stricken with the flu, the 5 member Kainai Warriors team made it plain they came to play anyway. They dominated the first quarter 12-1.  That disastrous quarter pretty much cost the Hawks the game.

The Hawks put in a big effort in the second quarter, outscoring the Warriors 11-10, but they were still well behind 22-12 at the half. The Warriors took the third quarter 16-11, largely based on the 11 point scoring effort of Jaylin.  The Hawks outscored the Warriors 16-12 in the final quarter, despite a 10 point scoring spree by Trevis of the Warriors.  It wasn't enough for the Hawks to close the gap though.  Final score: Warriors 50, Hawks 39.

Top scorers for the Hawks were Ryan Plante (also Player of the Game) with 12 points, Vincent Sayer with 10 points, Lachlan Terpstra with 9 points, and Braden Jessen with 8 points.

Top scorers for the Warriors were Trevis Bird with 23 points, Jaylin Good Striker (also Player of the Game) with 19 points, and Kyle with 8 points.

Sabres vs Hustlers

Sabres vs Hustlers

Lundbreck's Sabres dominated this game, outscoring the Piikani Hustlers by a significant margin in every quarter.  The Sabres are a very polished team, with great blocking, passing, Zone work, a very tough defence, and discipline.  They made the long passes work for them over and over again.

Final score: Sabres 60, Hustlers 26

Top scorers for the Sabres were Eric Cadonic (also Player of the Game) with 17 points, Ross Cook with 13 points, Jonathan Erickson with 10 points, and Chris Cail with 8 points.

Top scorers for the Hustlers were Johnny North Peigan with 11 points and Lane Quesnelle with 8 points.  Blaze Bad Eagle was named Player of the Game.

Dragons vs Warriors

Dragons vs Warriors

The Dragons dominated an obviously ill Kainai team in this game, outscoring them in every quarter.  In addition to being sick, the Warriors also had the disadvantage of a much smaller bench.  The two teams started out relatively evenly matched, with the Dragons scoring 12 points to 11 for the Warriors in the first quarter.  Trevis of the Warriors scored two three-pointers and a regular basket (and a total of 3 three-pointers in the game) in the first quarter, and teammate Jaylin Good Striker also scored a three-pointer.  The following quarters were disastrous for the Warriors.  Kyle Knowlton of the Dragons went on an 11-point scoring spree in the second quarter, with baskets also coming from many of his teammates.  Dragons Michael Svab and Mitchell Zoratti scored 6 points each in the third quarter.  The final quarter was a bit more subdued.

Final score: Dragons 65, Warriors 25.

Top scorer for the Warriors was Trevis Bird with 14 points.

Top Scorers for the Dragons were Kyle Knowlton with 17 points, Mitchell Zoratti with 16 points, Michael Svab with 10 points, and Aiden Smith with 8 points.

Hustlers vs Warriors

Hustlers vs Warriors

The Kainai Warriors were down to four able players for this game, due to illness.  They were given the choice, and decided to play it.  Both of these teams seemed eager to play each other.  It was no surprise that the Hustlers dominated the game, ultimately winning it 46-25.

Trevis Bird was again the top scorer for the Warriors, with 11 points.

Top scorers for the Hustlers were Lane Quesnelle with 18 points and Blaze Bad Eagle with 10 points.  Lennox Dixon made a particularly tricky basket for the Hustlers at the buzzer.

Final: Dragons vs Sabres

Dragons vs Sabres

And so it came down to this:  St. Michael's Dragons versus the Livingstone Sabres for the SWJHAA Junior A Boys Championship.

Cadonic up up and away

The Sabres basically won this one in the first quarter, after Brandon Hilbert scored 12 points to lead his team to a 23-9 lead over the Dragons. Eric Cadonic scored 6 points in both the first and second quarters for the Sabres, and at the half they were ahead 33-14.  That proved to be an insurmountable lead.   The Dragons outscored the Sabres 9-9 in the third quarter, but the Sabres again were top scorers 8-4 in the final quarter, to win it 49-27, earning them the 2012/13 SWJHAA Junior A Boys Championship.

Top scorers for the Dragons were Ryan Higgenbotham and Kyle Knowlton with 8 points each.

Top scorers for the Sabres were Eric Cadonic with 16 points, Ross Cook with 13 points, and Brandon Hilbert with 12 points.


Coaches Corner

For the Dragons, these were their last games of the season. Coach Mark Zoratti was pleased with the team's performance over the course of the season.  "They improved lots, everyone's playing, everyone's getting the ball, they're playing as a team," he said.  Ì`m proud of the boys, they did good."

Sabres Coach Paul Erickson explained that his team still had to play the Piikani Hustlers one more time on Tuesday evening, February 19 for the right to represent this area in the upcoming Zones tournament on the line.  Zones will be held in Hillcrest on March 1 and 2.  The Sabres are in first place in the area and the Hustlers are in second after narrowly defeating the Dragons by 1 point last week.   "We look forward to it, there's a lot of good teams there," said Coach Erickson.  "We would win the South Zones banner.  It's an actual Provincial tournament but for the South Zone.  It's really the big one for us.  It's the one I wanted to get in more than anything."