The Estevan Comprehensive School Elecs senior boys basketball team saw their season come to an end during the rural regional qualifying round for the Hoopla provincial tournament.
The Elecs entered the tournament ranked fourth, and opened the tournament with a 69-65 victory over the No. 5 Swift Current Colts.
“They beat us by 20 once this year, and we beat them by 20 twice, so we weren’t sure what team was going to show up,” said coach Shane Ross. “It was a total team effort, so it was a really fun game to be in.”
Their next game was a 72-62 loss in the semifinal to the top-ranked Battlefords Composite School Vikings, which ended the Elecs season. The Vikings beat the Elecs by 30 in their previous game of the season, so Ross was pleased that this game was closer.
ECS led the Battlefords after the first quarter, but Battlefords recovered to win the game.
“We definitely saw how much we’ve improved since the middle of the season when we played them previously,” said Ross.
If the Elecs would have defeated the Battlefords, they would have qualified for Hoopla, since the top two teams at regionals advance to the provincial championship.
Ross praised his team for the attitude they showed during regional playdowns. Rather than take issue with a referee’s call, for example, they kept an even keel.
“That’s what kept us in both those games this weekend,” Ross said. “Attitude is everything and we really showed that.”
Ross hopes the experience of being at regionals will be beneficial for the club next season. They have just three graduating players – Cam Rioux, Donny Mortenson and Wyatt Haux. Mortenson and Haux were the captains. It will be tough to replace the contributions made by those three players.
At the same time, they have some talented players who will be back next season, and Ross looks forward to the strides those players will take in their games.
