Sacred Heart High School (SHHS) Hosted a four team senior boys' and four team junior boys' exhibition basketball tournament over the weekend.
Participating teams included SHHS, Melville Comp, Yorkton Regional High School (YRHS), Melville St. Henry's and Estevan.
Tournament coordinator Garrett Karcha, SHHS Senior Saints coach, says the event went off very well with games running on time. As well officials were consistent and made sure the games went at a good pace.
The purpose of the event was to allow teams to get some additional playing time before Christmas.
The Senior Saints have built a solid 7-1 record early in the season, Karcha reports. The team won the Melville tournament at the beginning of the month and followed up with a third place finish at the University of Regina high school basketball tournament.
Currently Karcha carries 14 players on his bench. All players were given playing time at the weekend exhibition tourney.
The team strength is a very strong zone defense, Karcha reports. They also have a fast break. They are able to push the ball and create a very high intensity, quicker paced game, he adds.
Karcha will work his team on running the offense against a man-to-man defense as well as perfecting the press and press break.
The Senior Saints have a balanced attack, Karcha claims. "I think we've had five different leading scorers in each game," he closes.
SHHS Jr. boys' basketball coach Brent Guenther says his team has 12 Grade 9 players on the roster this year. The young players are improving with every game, he reports. "Turnovers are starting to come down every game," he observes. The players, who come from a variety of elementary school basketball programs, are beginning to play together as a team, Guenther says.
Defense appears to be the team strength right now as well as their aggressive play.
Offensively the Junior Saints still need a little work, he admits, but adds they are improving with every game. In addition to learning the structure of the game and game strategy. The young hoopsters are also working on building confidence and taking the ball to the hoop, Guenther explains.
The junior boys record up to the tournament stands at three wins and two losses.
