It was a tough weekend for the YRHS Raiders senior boys’ basketball team.
One week after a strong performance at the New Waterford Coal Bowl in Nova Scotia, the Raiders were in Swift Current where they put together one of their weaker performances of the season, going winless in three games, dropping a tournament opening game 101-53 to the Prince Albert – St. Mary Marauders before falling to the host Swift Current Colts 90-72 and Weyburn Eagles 85-71. “It was an odd weekend all around,” said Raider head coach Jason Payne, acknowledging that he didn’t quite know what exactly happened to cause such a weak performance. “I don’t know if it is a fact because we had missed some practices because of the trip to Nova Scotia or we were still tired from the trip.
“I know we had kids that had gotten sick, and when you stay in a classroom sickness spreads quite rapidly, so we had a few kids that were battling coughs and stuff like that, but we just didn’t seem to have our best effort this week in practice and games.”
Payne said that the biggest problem from the 0-3 performance was the two losses to fellow SHSAA 5A teams St. Mary and Swift Current – both losses that will hurt the Raiders when it comes to seeding for the Small Cities playoffs in three weeks’ time. “St. Mary is the top team heading into Small Cities in three weeks and we kind of expected that, but the loss to Swift Current really hurts us a lot,” mentioned Payne, continuing, “We had beaten them here at the York City Classic so we were going to be seeded ahead of them but now with that loss he opposite will happen.
“We also lost to Estevan and North Battleford so they’ll be seeded ahead of us so we’re probably looking at a number five or six seed where we were hoping for a two, three or four seed a little while ago.”
Still, Payne says it’s not the worst thing that can happen. A lower ranking would mean that they would avoid the heavily favoured St. Mary Marauders until the final game, meaning they would ultimately have an easier path to Hoopla qualification. “Whether you’re seeded second or sixth you still have tough teams you have to beat regardless on the path to Hoopla,” said the Raiders head coach. “If you’re seeded in the two, three, six, seven spots it’s probably easier than the four and five spot where you have to beat St. Mary to qualify for Hoopla, so whatever happens, happens.”
The Raiders will now take next weekend off before hosting a four team round-robin tournament involving two Manitoba teams (Swan River and Brandon) as well as Sacred Heart.
