That included no less than 16 Moose Jaw teams from the host Spartans, Ballers and Jam programs – and in no way were they simply there to fill out the draw.
The Spartans ended up taking tournament victories in the Under-17 boys, U13 boys and U17 girls divisions, to go along with second place-finishes for the U11 boys, U13 girls and U15 girls. The Ballers, meanwhile, posted a series of wins of their own, including a second place showing in the U15 boys division.
For the U17 boys Spartans – a squad composed mostly of players from the Central Cyclones provincial champions – it was a continuation of their success from high school. They defeated the Swift Current Surge 92-86 before downing the Ballers in the semifinal and battling through a war with the Queen City Hornets before taking an 83-79 win in the final.
“It was awesome, we played those guys earlier in the year and they beat us so this was good,” said Spartans coach Ryan Boughen. “We thought it would be a really good basketball game and it was; we’re getting better and the kids played really well. We had some good stops when we needed it, it was fun and great to see the guys come away with the win.”
Queen City led much of the way through but a late push by the Spartans combined with the Hornets shooting going cold in the waning moments enabled Moose Jaw to pull away.
For the U13 Spartans, it was a matter of keeping their solid weekend going in the title game: they opened with a 91-21 win over the Prince Albert Lakers and defeated the Ballers 78-27 in the semifinal. They expected a tough contest in the final and got exactly that, eventually holding on for a 73-64 win over the Hornets.
“That Queen City team was clobbering people and our kids were a little nervous,” Boughen said. “So we said ‘just go play’ and we look up and we’re in the game, and then we’re up by a couple and we kept playing hard. .. Some of those little guys haven’t had that experience where it’s THAT competitive, they’re tight and there’s a few tears, but they kept playing through it and it worked out.”
The U17 Spartans posted a pair of victories in their Tier II round robin draw to finish in first place, taking a 72-61 win over the Renegades and downing the IH Eagles 78-33 in their other contest.
All in all, the weekend was an impressive success despite the logistical nightmare of bringing together so many teams across so many divisions, a feat accomplished and then some by organizer Rhona Davey Johnson.
“This is an awesome tournament, Rhona does a fantastic job organizing it,” Boughen said. “There were a lot of kids here playing basketball this weekend and that’s great to see.”
Here are a selection of photos from the action during Sunday's finals involving the two Spartan champions and the Moose Jaw Ballers, who fell 75-61 in the U15 boys final. Click here for a look at the action from Friday.
