High school basketball's opening weekend is often less about winning the tournament and more about learning if what you ran during tryouts and practice will translate against real opponents. That was evident this weekend in Melville as poor road conditions sent two teams home Saturday, making the annual MCS tournament a six team A/B side round robin and emphasizing game experience of winning even further.
Despite the fact that it was a tune up weekend, the Raiders and Saints both did well in coming out and winning both of their games Saturday, with the Raiders taking the tournament crown with a 3-0 record and the Saints taking the B side with a 2-1 finish after losing a tough 49-48 opener against MCS on Friday night.
The Raiders had no problems in their three games of the tournament as the third best team in 4A basketball last year avoided an early season let down in the opening weekend and ran to three consecutive wins, instilling confidence in their new motion offense and working in rookies was the key takeaway to their weekend however.
"We did well in pushing the ball in transition and running the floor all weekend and our offense showed that it will create open space on the floor and that was the main goal of the weekend," said coach Payne who was happy with how his new group of Raiders performed under game pressure for the first time. "We got all of our guys in and everybody got game experience, which was huge for us" added Payne. A highlight of the weekend was a thunderous two handed jam from Daniel Mandziuk in the opening half of their Saturday morning clash against Estevan.
On the Saints side of things, despite their tough loss on Friday that could be attributed to first game jitters and a lack of preparation that was out of control, the Saints showed signs of improvement with each extra minute of game experience. A run and gun Balcarres squad gave the Saints a fight on Saturday morning, but the Saints woke up and pounded the ball down low and crashed the glass en route to an eventual blowout win before cruising against Kamsack to wrap up the opening weekend.
Brendon Walkington was a key player for the Saints as he was the team's leading scorer and rebounder while David Ojo showed flashes of talent in the paint as well in his first senior basketball appearances in what was the first time in years that the Saints relied on their inside presence to win.
Coach Garrett Karcha mentioned that the team is looking for new leaders this season and will be counting on guards Colin Shewchuk and Brock Liebrecht to fill that role as grade twelves. The Saints will now head to Caronport where they will get their first taste of top 3A competition.
"Our goal for this coming weekend is to work on our press defense and press break offense and see where we stack up in the 3A division as it is a new experience for us and myself" mentioned Karcha.
While the Saints head to Caronport the Raiders will be heading to Saskatoon for the annual Centennial Charger Classic and the Raiders will be getting their first major test of the season as they come up against Saskatoon 5A staple Aden Bowman. Aden Bowman, despite finishing fifth in Saskatoon's metro league last season, is returning a large group of players from last year's squad and will prove to be a tough matchup for new look Raiders who are still finding their feet with a group of rookie players. Payne will be looking to see how his team stacks up against tougher 5A and top 4A competition before staying at home at the Sacred four team mini tournament and a four team round robin of their own at YRHS after Christmas to wrap up the early season schedule. High school basketball is back, and both Yorkton teams will be happy with their opening weekend results. Now the action heats up and the competition gets stiffer, this weekend will serve as an early measuring stick for what Yorkton can expect from its two hometown teams.
