It was a busy season, but the school basketball has come to a close.
The school basketball season ended over the weekend with seniors at provincials, while the juniors competed in the district finals.
Junior Boys
For the second straight year, and third time in nine years, Watrous is district champion.
The boys from Watrous picked up the title by beating the junior basketball juggernaut from St. Brieux.
The finals loss was St. Brieux’s second in a row, and is their eight straight appearance in the final, winning five of those, all in a row from 2012-2016.
Watrous just got better and better as the district tournament wore on, posting their best offensive performance in the final.
After piling up 59 points in their quarterfinal win, and 71 points in their semi-final win, the Watrous offense exploded, setting a district tournament high, scoring 89 points in their 89-62 win over St. Brieux.
Junior Girls
While the boys were busy experiencing déjà vu, the girls were giving fans a fresh look.
After Foam Lake lost to Middle Lake in last year’s final, there was a fresh face with St. Brieux making their way to the final, where they took on Foam Lake.
The girls final was the first since 2015 that didn’t feature Middle Lake.
The two Lake schools have dominated junior girls basketball recently, winning eight times in the last 11 years, with just the 2009 final not featuring one of the two teams.
While those two teams have dominated junior girls basketball recently, it was a relative unknown who won the title.
St. Brieux, who completed their season undefeated, captured the league title, beating Foam Lake 47-40 in the final.
The win was St. Brieux’s first in more than a decade and was their first finals appearance in the same time frame.
Senior Boys
1A
For the second straight year, Middle Lake are provincial champions.
The Avengers picked up the provincial title, after rolling through provincials with a perfect 2-0 record.
The boys from Middle Lake kicked off their provincials with a showdown against Davidson.
The contest got off to an excellent start for the Avengers as they jumped out to a 40-31 lead by halftime and continued the onslaught in the second half, outscoring Davidson 41-38 and picking up an 81-69 win to move into the provincial final.
In the final, the Avengers took on their grid 777 rivals from Lake Lenore.
The Lancers joined Middle Lake in the final after knocking off Rocanville in the semi-finals.
It was not an easy win for the Lancers, who actually found themselves behind by four points at the half, but a 42-28 second half stretch saw the Lancers erase the deficit and pick up a 71-61 win to move into the provincial final.
The final was a rematch of last year’s provincial semi-final, which was won by Middle Lake.
Much like last year, the Avengers jumped out to an early lead, heading into the half up 40-21, and never looked back, outscoring the Lancers 35-32 in the second half to win the provincial title 75-53.
The win gives the Avengers their second straight title, while the loss moved the Lancers up one step on the podium, claiming a silver this year, after winning bronze in 2017.
2A
After watching their streak of consecutive provincial medals snapped at last year’s tournament, the St. Brieux Crusaders are back on top.
The Crusaders captured the provincial title, giving them three in the last four years.
The tournament got off to an excellent start for the Crusaders as they avenged their bronze medal final loss from the year prior to Osler VCA.
After Osler beat them 90-87 last year, the Crusaders responded by routing them this year.
The boys from St. Brieux opened up a 48-31 lead by halftime and outscored Osler 42-30 in the second half en route to a 90-61 demolition of Osler.
That win moved St. Brieux into the provincial final where they took on Caronport.
The St. Brieux offense continued to click in the final as they piled up 50 points by the half, to lead 50-35, and added another 50 in the second half, outscoring Caronport 50-49, to win the provincial title 100-84.
3A
For the third straight year, the Birch Hills Marauders are provincial medalists.
After winning silver in 2016, and bronze in 2017, the Marauders are back on the second step of the podium, finishing second.
The Marauders kicked off their tournament in excellent fashion, picking up a 26 point win over Norquay.
The boys from Birch Hills came out flying as they lead 41-31 at the half and never looked back, outscoring Norquay 47-32 in the second half to run away with an easy 89-63 win.
The win moved the Marauders into the provincial final where they took on Regina Christian in a rematch of their provincial semi-final from the year prior, won 76-67 by Regina.
After losing to Regina Christian the year prior, the Marauders were determined not to let it happen again, as they came out flying in the first half, and built up a 31-29 lead by halftime.
Unfortunately for the Marauders they were unable to keep up the attack in the second half, and were outscored 45-25, en route to a 74-56 loss.
Senior Girls
1A
The Middle Lake Avengers are back on top of the basketball world.
After losing in the provincial final to Kenaston in 2017, the Avengers exacted revenge on their 1A rivals, to regain their provincial title.
The Avengers kicked off their tournament in excellent fashion as they rolled through Gladmar in their opening contest.
The girls from Middle Lake jumped out to a huge lead in the first half, outscoring Gladmar 42-17 and never looked back as they piled up 25 second half points en route to a 67-33 win.
With the win Middle Lake moved into the provincial final where they took on Kenaston.
The two teams put forth an excellent display of basketball with Kenaston taking a narrow 28-23 edge into halftime.
While the Avengers struggled to fill the basketball in the first half, the girls came out firing on all cylinders offensively in the second half as they outscored Kenaston 37-15 to run away with a 60-43 win.
While the Avengers were busy winning the provincial title, the girls from St. Brieux were busy collecting bronze.
The Crusaders kicked off their tournament with an excellent first half of their semi-final.
The girls from St. Brieux displayed an excellent lockdown defense that limited Kenaston to 14 points, as the Crusaders went into the half leading 2014.
Unfortunately for the Crusaders their defense let them down in the second half as they gave up 30 points, and were outscored 30-30, en route to a devastating 44-40 loss.
With the loss the Crusaders were relegated to the bronze medal game where they were matched up with Gladmar.
Much like in the semi-finals, the Crusaders came out playing excellent basketball in the first half as they piled up 31 points and took a 31-26 lead into halftime.
This time, the Crusaders made sure to put the game away, limiting Gladmar to just 16 second half points as the Crusaders outscored Gladmar 24-16 in the second half to run away with a 55-42 victory.
The win gave the Crusaders the bronze medal.
2A
For the fourth year in a row the Wynyard Golden Bears are provincial champions.
After beating Foam Lake and Kinistino a year prior, the girls from Wynyard saw neither team return in their quest to knock off the Bears.
This time, Canora was standing in Wynyard’s way in the semi-finals.
The two teams started out slow offensively managing just 45 combined first half points as Wynyard lead 27-18.
The second half seemed to see both clubs catch fire offensively as they combined for 86 points as Wynyard outscored Canora 47-39 en route to a 74-57 win.
The win moved the Golden Bears into the provincial final where they took on Asquith.
After romping their way to the final, the Golden Bears made sure to leave nothing up to chance in the final as they built up a 39-18 lead by the half.
The Golden Bears cruised from there outscoring Asquith 33-19 in the second half as they rolled to an easy 72-37 win.
With basketball now complete, athletes will turn their attention to the final few sports of the school year including badminton and track and field.
