North Battleford saw their share of junior hoops Friday and Saturday as John Paul II Collegiate hosted its junior boys and girls basketball tournament over the weekend.
The first games of the round-robin took place Friday afternoon, with the finals taking place Saturday evening at JP II. Games were also played at the Ecole Monseigneur Blaise Morand school as well.
Six teams competed on the boys side, with John Paul II fielding two teams for the tournament. The JP II A team defeated North Battleford Comprehensive High School by a 47-16 count in the tournament opener Friday, and later beat Dalmeny 37-36 to earn first place in its pool.
The JP II B team fell, however, to Holy Rosary Raiders (Lloydminster) 76-11 in its first game, and also lost to Jonas Sampson of Meadow Lake.
In the final on Saturday, John Paul II's A squad matched up with Holy Rosary. But it turned into a sad night for the local squad as Holy Rosary ran away with an easy win to claim the title by a score of 54 to 31.
JP II's B team ended up winning its fifth place consolation game in overtime over NBCHS by 69 to 56.
On the junior girls side, JP II beat Unity in one of the round-robin games but lost to Jonas Sampson 60-15 in the other. As a result, JP II ended up in the consolation game against Langham, which they lost 33-27.
Jonas Sampson ended up taking on Holy Rosary in the finale Saturday, with Jonas Sampson Stingers winning that title by a 46 to 29 score.
All in all it was a well-organized and well-attended event with the supporters cheering on good efforts by all the teams in the tournament.
