There was no shortage of drama in the Prairie Premier Classic U13 boys basketball final on Saturday afternoon.
And has been the case so many times with local teams this season, the Moose Jaw Spartans found a way to pull it out in the end.
After winning their first two tournament games, the Spartans ran into Heat Check in the championship final and ended up battling tooth-and nail for the victory, with impressive defensive stops, last-second baskets and clutch free throws the order of the day.
In the end, the Spartans would come away with a 61-60 victory in their final tournament of the club basketball season.
“All the kids played amazing today, they all played for each other and worked hard,,” said Spartans coach Kris Temple. “We had big clutch free throws at the end there, big clutch rebounds underneath the hoop… it takes a team to win a game like this and that’s what it was today. It was a great win as a team.”
The Spartans took a 10-point lead out of the first quarter and led 32-28 at half before heading into the final 10 minutes with a 45-37 edge.
Heat Check slowly chipped away as the final quarter moved on, and when Moose Jaw’s shooting went a touch cold in the middle part of the frame, were able to claw their way back to make it a two-possession game with a minute to play.
They closed to within two with 15 seconds remaining, got the steal on the ensuing Spartans rush up the court, and after a scramble under the Spartans basket would get the tying points and the foul with three seconds remaining.
As fate would have it, the free throw wouldn’t fall and it was off to overtime.
There, the two teams went back and forth until the dying seconds, when Reid Weiss was able to snare the ball under the hoop and put up a shot with 1.6 seconds to play. It went awry, but Weiss was able to draw the foul, and he’d make his first shot to give the Spartans the one-point win.
As impressive a clutch victory as you can get, and one that Temple felt was a fitting end to the season.
“For us not being able to be together for a long time, I’m proud of these guys,” Temple said. “They really came together this weekend and played so well, it was just a great tournament.”
The Spartans opened the Classic with a 64-43 win over the Rockets before rolling to a 76-17 win over the Junior Crusaders in their semifinal.
The Prairie Premier Classic features 66 teams from all over Alberta and Saskatchewan, with tournament play across all age divisions wrapping up on Sunday evening.
Round robin games wrap up Sunday morning, with the U13 girls final set for 5 p.m. at Peacock, U15 girls title game at 6:30 p.m. at Peacock, U15 boys Tier I final at 6:30 p.m. at Riverview, U15 boys Tier II final at 3:30 p.m. at Peacock and U17 boys final set for 5 p.m. at Peacock.
