The Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs senior boys basketball team beat the Yorkton Sacred Heart School Saints 89-84 to capture third place at the Energy City Invitational basketball tournament at ECS on Saturday.
Wyatt Haux, a Grade 12 forward for the Elecs, said the team was executing well on both sides of the court against the Saints. He said they were moving their feet and found a few guys on the opposition that they could key on offensively, but they also stepped up their defence in the second half to pull ahead.
“We knew there was a (Saints) player who was hitting his shots,” said Haux, in reference to Yorkton guard Grady Hawkins. “We put our best defender on him and just tried to keep the ball out of his hands.”
The Elecs and Saints both came hard out of the gate with each team exchanging baskets. Saints forward Noah Clarke gave his side a bit of a cushion late in the first quarter by hauling in an offensive rebound and scoring off a jumper in the paint before Hawkins hit his first of six treys on the night to make the score 23-21 heading into the second quarter.
Hawkins started the frame the same way he left off the first quarter with Haux responding shortly after with a drive to the basket and roll off the glass. The Yorkton wing ended the back-and-forth stanza with another score from behind the arc to give the Saints a 39-36 lead at the half.
The Elecs found their groove in the third quarter with guard John Sasi draining a three 10 seconds in and again 1:10 in to give the Blue and Red a 42-39 advantage. Elecs guard Heaven Cabiluna then took over in the Saints zone hauling in offensive rebound after offensive rebound before quickly dishing off the ball to his teammates for open looks.
Hawking went back to work late in the frame with the Elecs seeming ready to pull ahead by nailing three straight threes including a buzzer beater at the corner to bring his team within two points at 60-58. Elecs forward Donny Mortenson, Haux and Sasi kept the pressure up in the fourth quarter with each driving to the basket including eight straight points from the paint by Haux with the clock running down.
“We had boys moving their feet, so that helped us,” said Haux. “We had a couple of guys who we found we had an advantage on the other team and we used that, so that really helped us in finding their weaknesses. We really drove against that and it helped us with the win.”
The Energy City Invitational came between the two legs of the 82nd annual McLeod Series between the Elecs and the Weyburn Eagles, but Haux said there were no issues with fatigue or lack of concentration with their team. He said the tournament games gave them some practice and time to work out a few new strategies to beat the Eagles in the second half of the McLeod Series at ECS on Wednesday.
“We were practising a couple of different offences over this tournament,” he said. “It’s some that they haven’t seen yet, so we got some surprises for them.”
