Sr. Boys Basketball - Redskins defeat Hawks

Hawks vs Redskins
C. Davis and T. Lucas photos and video

Chris Davis, Sports

Matthew Halton School's Senior Boys basketball team hosted Piikani's Redskins on Monday evening, December 16 for a spirited game of basketball, the first league game of the season for both teams.

The Hawks were briefly in the lead at the beginning of the first quarter, but the Redskins pulled ahead quickly and built on their lead thoroughout the first half, and going into the second half they were ahead 41-19.  The Redskins continued to dominate early in the third quarter, ahead by 49-19 at one point.  Then the Hawks pulled themselves together, whittling that lead down one basket at a time, being particularly strong in the final quarter, but the Redskins' lead was too much to overcome at that point.  Final score: Redskins 61, Hawks 49.

Teigan Lissel with the ball

Both teams had 10 players, a considerable improvement for both over last season when they were each playing with a very short bench.  The Redskins last year had to play some quarters short handed, and both teams had games where there were little or no subs available.

Up up and away for Austin Sinclair

Top scorer for the Hawks was Austin Sinclair with 16 points, followed by Jake Varley with 8 points, and Liam Nazarek and Dawson Jarvis with 7 points each.  Teigan Lissel scored 6 points, Jared Duffield scored 4, and TJ Ratzloff scored on a penalty throw.  TJ proved to be a marvellous interceptor as well.

Redskins #0 Josh Crosschild was a phenomenon, scoring 23 points in the first three quarters.  Fred Small Legs scored 12 points, Lance Red Young Man scored 11 points, Michel north Peigan scored 10 points, Ethan Yellow Wings scored 3 points, and Yellowface scored 2 points.

Halton's Hawks

Matthew Halton's Athletic Director Randy Whitehead was filling in for regular coach Niki McNab for this game, the first of the season for the Hawks after weather conditions forced the postponement of several games.  "We've got numbers this year, which is better than last year," said Whitehead.  "We've got more players out.  There's a lot of new kids, and they're figuring each other out and adjusting to each other.   The big thing was looking at this game was the hustle.  The first half they weren't hustling.  The second half they started hustling a lot better, working hard on defense, and because of that, they cut down a 30 point lead.  If they had played like that in the first half, it would have been a different game."

"If they can figure each other out, get that commitment to hard work...If they do, they've got potential there."

Piikani Redskins

Piikani Redskins Coach Barnaby Provost started the basketball program 6 years ago at the Piikani Nation Secondary School.  "This is my first year coaching, back  again,"  said Provost, explaining that he had moved away for one year, and has returned to coaching locally again this season.  "This is my first time coaching Senior.  Usually I've coached Junior teams.  I'm with the kids now that I coached for three years in Junior High."

"We're kind of undersized, we're a smaller team."

"We're getting back into it, I think it's going to take a while," Provost continued.  "I'm mostly focusing on their defence, playing properly, man to man, and playing aggressively.  Then we'll go from there.  Hopefully, by the end of the season we'll have developed.  We'll have a defensive first mentality, rather than a offensive, which is a bit of a change for these guys."

"They need to be committed to playing defence. Offence will come."

This was the fourth game of the season for the Redskins, their first league game, and their first win of the season.

Keep an eye on Trey!