CANORA – The East Central Clash senior boys basketball tournament, which was originally set to feature 16 teams, was once again impacted by Mother Nature, according to Heath Morin, organizer.
“We had 16 teams lined up to come, but only 13 were able to make it,” said Morin. “Two pulled out Friday morning (Jan. 16), and one tried to come but was made to turn around an hour or so into their journey.”
Teams entered featured host teams: Preeceville, Sturgis, Norquay and Canora Composite School Cougars. The other teams were: Wynyard, Kamsack, Indian Head, Langenburg, Esterhazy, Kinistino, The Pas, Davidson and St. Brieux.
As such, some changes were made on the go, and were reflected in not all four Friday locations (Sturgis, Preeceville, Canora and Norquay) having the four teams scheduled to play there present. Canora was actually the only location with all four teams there Friday night.
The opening game for the Cougars, in front of a noisy and supportive home crowd, was against the Langenburg Screaming Eagles. Canora, playing at a high tempo from the start, roared out to a 13-2 lead off the opening tip. Forcing Langenburg into multiple shot clock violations, the Cougars stretched their advantage to 43-9 at halftime. The home team kept the pressure on through the second half, cruising to a 74-22 victory.
The second game for the Cougars, also in Canora, was a much tighter contest against Davidson. The Cougars kept it close, but Davidson ultimately prevailed with a final score of 61-55.
The top two teams from each pool, including the Cougars, played in Norquay on Saturday. The other five teams played in Preeceville and each played two games to give them the same four games as everybody else.
In the C side semi-final, Esterhazy beat Canora while Sturgis got past Kinistino. Canora then won over Kinistino to finish seventh in the tournament while Esterhazy knocked off Sturgis to earn fifth place.
“The A side was very competitive, and had arguably the three best 2A teams in Saskatchewan as well as a very strong Manitoba team, Margaret Barbour Collegiate Institute from The Pas,” said Morin. “The Pas knocked off Davidson in the first semi-final while Preeceville took down St. Brieux in the other. The 3rd place game was a back and forth affair right down to the end with St. Brieux eventually eeking out a 69 – 66 victory over Davidson.
“The A final was a very good basketball game. The Pas had a four point lead at the half and then rode the hot shooting of point guard Mason Hanchuk to an 89 – 67 victory over Preeceville. Hanchuk finished the game with 42 points,” concluded Morin
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