Despite losing both of their games at the 5A Hoopla tournament in Regina this weekend, there are a number of things that the North Battleford Comprehensive High School Vikings senior boys’ basketball team can take from the experience as they build towards the future.
“Just to get to the tournament shows that you are doing a lot of the little things right and to go up against these top teams is great for our younger guys,” Vikings head coach Jamie Sommerfeld said. “We have three of our top scorers coming back next year and four members of our starting lineup can return as well, so the future’s looking bright for us.
“The pace of the game here among the top teams is something that I think everyone notices. You need to take care of the ball and limit the unforced errors. Those are things that we will work on for sure when we gear up for next season.”
In their opening game of the tournament Thursday night, the Vikings suffered an 80-70 loss in a tightly contested battle with the Bishop James Mahoney Saints of Saskatoon in the quarter-finals.
“They took it to us earlier in the season but we were right there with them all game long,” Sommerfeld said.
“We had a five-minute lapse where they jumped out in front of us and we couldn’t recover. It’s those little things that make the difference at this tournament.”
Damon Dutton was the leading scorer for the Vikings with 21 points, while Aiden Smithen had 29 points for the Saints.
That loss dropped the Vikings into the consolation round Friday, where their run at Hoopla came to an end by a score of 82-70 to the Centennial Chargers of Saskatoon.
“Centennial is a very experienced team,” Sommerfeld said. “They have eight Grade 12 players so they are much more mature physically and have a higher basketball knowledge than us, which you could see during that game.”
The Chargers were led on offence by Jordan Silzer, who scored 36 points in the victory.
Riley Rathwell had 24 points in the loss for the Vikings in their season finale.
The 5A boys’ final was an all-Regina affair as the Campbell Tartans defeated the LeBoldus Golden Suns by a score of 76-71, which ended the Golden Suns’ run of four straight provincial titles.
It also marked the Tartans first 5A championship since 2009.
