The Estevan Comprehensive School Elecs senior boys and girls basketball teams went into the Christmas break on a high note.
The senior boys team was the class of a tournament in Brandon, Man., on the weekend. They went a perfect 5-0 to win the tournament. In the final, they won 73-68 over Dauphin, in a game that the Elecs trailed by 10 points with four minutes to play.
“We played really well,” said coach Trevor Dutka. “We hit a three (point shot), and we stole their in-bound play to cut it to six, and then they couldn’t handle our press. It was really exciting the last few minutes.”
Kyler Dutka led the offensive attack with 23 points in the final, while Clark Cabiluna finished with 20.
Estevan opened the tournament by going 3-0 in the round robin. Their first game was an 85-69 victory over Winnipeg’s Calvin Christian School. Kyler Dutka and Francois Adaya led the way with 19 points each. Then they defeated Brandon’s Neelin High School 85-65, with Cabiluna and Adaya registering 19 points each, and 98-64 over Northland West of Winnipeg, with Cabiluna and Reilly McGeough leading the way offensively.
In the semifinal, Estevan won 64-58 over Brandon’s Crocus Plains in a game that the Elecs trailed by 10 at one point. McGeough had 17 points and Kyler Dutka scored 15.
Cabiluna was named the tournament MVP, while McGeough and Kyler Dutka were voted tournament all-stars.
Trevor Dutka was impressed with how the team played defensively and how they executed their offensive schemes.
“It’s just like anything else,” said the coach. “Now the boys are starting to buy into the offensive schemes, and they see it working in game situations. They’re running our plays, and they’re working for them, and they’re really excited. You can tell they’re so excited about the season now.”
The tournament had some very good competition, even though some of the scores were lopsided.
“The scores look a little bit bad, but at the end of every game, every team is pressing and taking chances and stuff like that.”
A 10-point game can quickly become a 20-point game, he said.
The adversity they faced in the semifinal helped them in the final.
This was the Elecs second tournament of the year. Two weeks earlier, they were in Regina and went 2-3. They defeated Regina Riffel High School and Regina O’Neill High School that weekend.
Dutka hopes the tournament victory in Brandon will give them a lot of momentum after the Christmas break. Their first tournament will be in Moose Jaw.
“We’ll start seeing some Saskatchewan teams that we’re going to be competing with going to Hoopla (basketball provincials), so it’s definitely a confidence builder, and running our plays and the boys seeing how they work definitely will be an asset moving forward.”
As for the senior girls, they attended the 31st annual Fekula Regina Balfour tournament on the weekend.
ECS opened the tournament with an 82-42 victory over Saskatoon Bethlehem, and then they routed the host Balfour team 95-39 to advance to the final against the Swift Current Ardens.
ECS started off slowly in the final, as they trailed 19-13 to Swift Current at one point. With an adjustment to their defence, ECS was able to shut down the shooting opportunities for the Ardens and the score at halftime was 43-28 for ECS.
The Elecs continued to play great defence in the second half and executed its offensive game plan to add to its lead on Swift Current and win 73-45.
Beth Montebon was named MVP of the final. Sarah Dacuycuy (17 points) and Taylor Haux (11 points and 10 rebounds) were Estevan’s top scorers.
Haylee Jones was one of the Elecs most consistent rebounders over the weekend, averaging 10 rebounds per game.
All of the teams ECS faced on the weekend were in the 5A division, which is also the Elecs classification for this season.
Coach Jessie Smoliak said the team is playing well as a team right now and they hope to keep improving and striving to be better after the Christmas break.
“It is nice to have a team with every player contributing on the team,” she said.
The Elecs opened the season by winning the Regina O’Neill tournament two weeks earlier, and then they finished second at the tournament in Wilcox.
Their first tournament after the Christmas break is at St. Mary’s in Prince Albert Jan. 10-12, 2020.
