January is an odd month in the high school basketball calendar. Christmas break keeps teams from hitting the court with much consistency for two weeks then teams come back for two weeks of action before finals give teams yet another short stoppage in the practice/tournament schedule. Yet January can be where teams come together and pull away from the pack in the seasons second month, the high school basketball calendar's second month is a weird one and both Yorkton schools kicked it off with three games a piece at the YRHS gym.
Friday afternoon the YRHS Sr. Boys hosted MCS in a 2:30 tip off in front of the student body, the Raiders pulled away from MCS early and cruised to a 63-31 win with every player on the Raider bench getting run. Sacred opened their weekend against the YRHS Jr. team and despite a very talented Raider junior team staying in it for the first half and holding a lead, the Saints size and hard work on the glass by Carter MacKay and Brendon Walkington was too much to handle and the Saints took an 11 point win. The Jr. Raiders beat MCS on Saturday and lost 66-33 to the seniors to round out a solid weekend for them playing up an age level.
Saturday afternoon saw the second Gladstone Battle of the year as the Raiders and Saints senior squads took to the court. The Raiders were simply too much to handle winning 63-32 and finishing off a weekend where they allowed just 31 points per game in their return to action.
Coach Jason Payne expects the Raiders to keep growing in the month, "We have the same strengths and weaknesses as I saw at the start of the year, but we have two of the best players in the province in Daniel Mandziuk who is one of the best point guards I've seen at this level and Ben Redl on the glass and in the low post so now it is about growing as a team and players increasing their roles going into March."
The Raiders will take on Prince Albert Carlton in what will be a tough test Friday in Moose Jaw. Sacred will also be headed to Moose Jaw this weekend for tournament play.
