Within the lines of disappointment and exhaustion, the St. Thomas More Knights found a way to plant the seeds of optimism during Saturday’s season-ending defeat.
Trailing by as much as 17 points, the Knights corralled enough grit and perseverance to give the Rick Hansen Hurricanes a true test before bowing out 74-68 to finish fourth overall at the B.C. 3A senior boys basketball championships.
What was a huge gap minutes into the third quarter became a two-point shootout with under a minute to play.
The Hurricanes held their ground, however, and St. Thomas More felt the sting of defeat one last time.
It was an effort worth hanging a hat on, not hanging their heads in disappointment over.
“Having seen it in my years as a player and a coach, that’s how a lot of third-place games go. Either you get two teams who aren’t inspired at all who turn it up in the end, or you get a team that’s fired up and one that’s not,” said the Knights’ Aaron Mitchell, who received the Ken Wright Coaching Award at the end of the proceedings.
Only one player cracked double digits – Cam Morris scored 26 points. Grade 11 Nathan Hallam came in off the bench to post-up for nine points.
Mitchell’s charges started slowly, still tired and demoralized from the previous day’s 82-57 semifinal thrashing at the hands of Southridge, who would go on to win the B.C. title with a 78-71 victory over Steveston-London.
In the semifinal, Southridge surrendered the first basket but led the rest of the way. Tourney MVP Hunter Hughes burned STM for 35 points and collected 19 rebounds in a dominating effort – one the Knights found difficult to counter.
“When you play a team that is maybe that much better, all the little mistakes add up,” said Mitchell of the semifinal loss. “(Hughes) is a heckuva player. I didn’t feel like doubling or trapping him was a good option for us. They’ve seen everything all year, they’ve seen box-and-one, the trap. We were a little tentative, but in the end they were the better team.”
Morris posted his own double-double in a losing cause, scoring 23 points and pulling down 14 rebounds. The wide differential in shooting percentage – STM hit just 33.3 per cent of their field goal attempts to Southridge’s 49.3 – and chasm on the boards (28 to 44) proved to be the tale of the tape.
Coming on the heels of a strong 73-61 quarterfinal win over Abbotsford, where the lead changed hands 14 times and the Knights posted their best shooting numbers of the week, the setback put a quick halt to the momentum built over the past month.
Morris was voted to the tourney’s first all-star team.
The week will serve as valuable experience for the off-season, Mitchell remarked, noting how all but two players are returning for their senior season.
“We’ve got 13 grade 11s and six-to-eight grade 10s coming up so there will be some tough decisions (next year),” he said. “You’ve got to be open and honest, that the off-season starts soon. Those who work hard and improve and want to get better are going to be the ones who take the next step. You want that challenge, you don’t want it to be easy, they (need to) push each other and strive for that.”
The challenge is obvious. Equally evident are the expectations on the young Knights, who on Wednesday were listed third in 2016-17 preseason rankings by the Province's Howard Tsumura, with local rival Byrne Creek slotted in seventh among the provincial hopefuls.
