NEWS PHOTO EMMA BENNETT - Crescent Heights High School Vikings guard Tyson Heidebrecht, right, protects the ball as Calgary's Forest Lawn Titans' Andrico Reid blocks during Thursday's Super South Baskteball Tournament.

Super South stars with handful of top-ranked 3A teams
SEAN ROONEY
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At most tournaments, top teams cruise through their first couple opponents.
With the odd exception, that is not the case at the Super South Tournament.
The 32-team high school boys basketball showcase began Thursday at Crescent Heights and Monsignor McCoy with plenty of top-ranked teams having to claw and scratch their way to the next round.
In the 16-team varsity draw the co-host Crescent Heights Vikings held off Calgary's Forest Lawn Titans 64-53, while fellow host McCoy Colts won 71-57 over Highwood out of High River.
"It's one of the best tournaments in the province for 3A," said Vikings coach Lee Woodward, whose team is ranked fifth among Alberta 3A schools. "It's a tough tournament all around. Sixteen teams could win this tournament, it's pretty impressive."
No. 1 Chestermere faces local school Eagle Butte at 11:45 a.m. this morning at McCoy to close out the first round on the varsity side. Quarter-finals go later in the day and the gold medal match is slated for 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
All four of the ranked teams playing Thursday advanced, including No. 2 Cochrane (113-26 over Kate Andrews), No. 5 Crescent Heights, No. 8 McCoy and No. 9 Canmore (87-63 over Foremost). Other scores included Calgary's Crescent Heights beating Winston Churchill 70-65 and Moose Jaw's Peacock Collegiate upending Chinook 78-58.
For the Vikings, the tough matchup with a veteran Titans squad might have been the kick-start they needed. After Deng Nyang highlighted a 30-13 first quarter with numerous steals and eight points, the visitors clamped down and at times dictated the pace. But the lack of an outside game came back to haunt them in the end.
"Our team played defence really good, we started off right," said Nyang, a Grade 11 guard. "We had a lot of turnovers, we need to control the ball more."
For Nyang, Thursday's game was his first in a while for the Vikings. He admits he's been "in trouble" but knows turning things around off the court will help his basketball, and hopefully vice versa.
"I have learned from my mistakes, I know what I did was really stupid but I feel like I'm back now," said Nyang.
The team certainly enjoyed having his quickness back on the court. Later, they went to their big men to finish the job, with Harrison Stubbs' 23 points leading all scorers.
Abdul Sesay exploded for 13 of his 15 points in the final quarter but was among three Titans to foul out in the final few minutes.
Next up for Crescent Heights is Peacock, which features 6-foot-6 post Payton Hillsdon. That game tips off at 5 p.m. at Crescent Heights.
McCoy will meet Canmore on their home floor at 6:45 p.m. in what sets up as the best on-paper matchup of the quarter-final round. On Thursday Eryk Babyn led the Colts with 22 points, followed by Mason Heller with nine.