The Westview Wildcats boys basketball team beat the Sacred Heart Crusaders 58-41 at Spruce Ridge School on Saturday to win the A-side final of the Spruce Ridge/St. Mary’s Grade 7/8 Boys Basketball Tournament.
“Right from start to finish, the tournament was well organized and the players really enjoyed it,” said Wildcats assistant coach Robert Charlton, who works the bench alongside head coach Shane Davenport. “They had a lot of fun and I think that made all the difference with how the game went.”
The Wildcats jumped out to an early 18-8 lead thanks to their speed and numerous fast breaks. The Crusaders fought back in the second quarter bringing the score to 33-22 at the half and 44-35 after three quarters, but the early deficit proved too big to make up despite the strong effort.
“I’m very proud how we played,” said Crusaders head coach Mark Moriarty. “We fought two hard games yesterday and we came just a bit short today.”
The Crusaders went 2-0 in pool A of round-robin play at St. Mary’s School on Friday, while the Wildcats did the same in pool B at Spruce Ridge School. The St. Mary’s Monarchs and Spruce Ridge Cougars each won one and lost one in the round-robin placing them in the B-final, where the Cougars won 33-23. Both the Hillcrest Hornets and Pleasantdale Bulldogs went 0-2 in round-robin play placing them in the C-final, which was won 37-28 by the Bulldogs.
Brent Hoffos, principal of Spruce Ridge School and coach of the Cougars, said this annual tournament helps the city’s school teams prepare for the district championships that occur March 10. He said the Grade 7/8 girls districts tournament will be played at Spruce Ridge this year, while the Grade 7/8 boys districts tournament will take place at Pleasantdale School.
“We’re just going to keep playing the same style of basketball and keep working (and) fine tuning,” said Charlton, on how his undefeated squad will be working towards districts. “A lot of it is learning as we go. Players are learning and they’re willing to learn and it really showed here in this tournament.”
