The Yorkton Regional High School (YRHS) and Scared Heart High School (SHHS) co-hosted the first annual York City Classic senior boys basketball tournament over the weekend. The event featured 12 teams from 4A schools across the province, says YHRS head coach Jason Payne. "We had seven of the top teams in the province here, so there was some very competitive basketball," he reports.
Payne feels the tournament was a success. All teams entered made it to the event despite the weather. The level of play was very good, he suggests. "I think the best team in the province won, that being St. Mary's from P.A. and there were lots of good games along the way," Payne states.
The YRHS Senior Raiders lost their second game to Aden Bowman Collegiate from Saskatoon who finished second overall, Payne reports. The loss placed YRHS on the B side. A poor game Saturday morning against P.A. Carleton, resulted in the Raider's second loss. "It's pretty hard to win a game when you shoot six for 38 in the second half. That game went poorly. We lost by eight, " Payne says.
Saturday afternoon YRHS won the B-side consolation game over Martin Collegiate from Regina which placed them seventh overall for the weekend.
Currently the Raiders are still a fairly young team of Grade 10 and 11 players and four seniors on the bench. "We're still a young team learning how to win. It's a matter of experience in a lot of things," Payne suggests.
Payne is YRHS head coach, ably assisted by assistant coach Tony Hayden. "He's a fantastic resource to have. he's been coaching for over 40 years so he certainly has lots of experience," Payne states.
When the Raiders were playing well they were scoring in transition and capitalizing on the other teams' mistakes, Payne says. "When we weren't playing well, we weren't hitting those shots. We were the ones making those mistakes," he admits.
The season has been interesting, Payne suggests, with the team playing well off and on. One good thing has been a consistent defense all season, he claims. "For a young team, that's only going to get better," he asserts.
The Raiders are 10-6 for the season, Payne reports. He's reasonably happy with the team's performance. "We're in the conversation for Hoopla when we play well and when we don't we're not," he predicts.
The Raiders need to strive for a more consistent performance in the last half of the season, Payne states.
Team scoring is balanced with several players leading the way in scoring. Defensive play is also equally shared by several players. "There's not one kid who's really standing out at all. It's been a good team effort," Payne says.
The Raiders will play in Prince Albert and Swift Current before the February break. "Another week of intense practise and games and then we get a week off," Payne says.
March 4-5 the Raiders will host a four team round robin tournament. Each team will play two games. There are no trophies. It's just basically a tune-up tournament.
Payne thanks the officials and minor officials who helped work the tournament. He also thanks SHHS for co-hosting the event.
"It was a good tournament. It's as good a tournament as we'll play in all year. Hopefully it continues and we start to get some fans in the seats at some point," Payne closes.
SHHS coach Garrett Karcha agrees with Payne that the tournament went over well, attracting some of the top 4A school teams. Everything ran smoothly and on time, says Karcha. Officials were available when required. Despite the weather, all registered teams made it to the tournament.
Karcha says he appreciated working with Payne who is very organized and shares his passion for promoting basketball in Yorkton.
Karcha says cohosting the tournament allowed for an equitable division of responsibilities as well as providing the economic benefit of splitting the budget. It allowed the schools to more effectively promote basketball in the city, he suggests.
The Senior Saints finished with a 3-1 record to claim the B-side title. SHHS narrowly lost its first game, a nail biter, to Moose Jaw Central by a score of 76-73, Karcha reports. They went on to defeat Balgonie, Regina Martin Col-legiate and P.A. Carleton in the B-side final Saturday.
Karcha says the Saint's fast break and solid defense contributed to the team's performance.
The 13 player team currently has a record of 13-3. Karcha, who claims he's not superstitious, says he's happy with the team's season on the boards.
The Saints will play in a tournament in Weyburn this weekend, followed by Super Hoops at Balgonie/Lumsden.
Karcha expresses his appreciation to parents, fans, players and officials for a successful tournament.
He points out that the proceeds of the gate admission will provide for two elementary basketball scholarships, one in each of the local school divisions, to help promote the sport.
Judging by the comments of visiting coaches and athletes the event went over very well. "They said it was the best tournament they've been to all year," Karcha claims.
