 NEWS PHOTO SEAN ROONEY - Kyle Church of Hat High fires a pass around Cardston's Riley Warburger during varsity boys basketball action at Hat High Friday night. |
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If Chad Watson ever convinces his young team that they're as good as he knows they are, the rest of the Southern Alberta High School Basketball League will have another contender.
For now, however, the varsity Mohawks are merely a good test for the top teams in the province.
On Friday night Hat High hung with unbeaten Cardston for three quarters, before succumbing to a trap defence in the fourth of a 75-63 decision.
"We have a good team, we're on the verge of being great and that's the thing these boys don't understand," said Watson, whose team falls to 3-5 in league play. "If we learn to attack we'll be OK."
Kyle Church's buzzer-beating three-point shot finished an energetic first half for the host Mohawks, who have but one Grade 12 player among their starting five. But the Cougars leaned on the 1-on-1 game of Riley Walburger and 22 big points from forward Riley Sheen to improve to 8-0.
The key stretch came in the fourth quarter. Cardston only led 56-53 but switched defences. Even when the Mohawks solved the trap, they started missing easy inside shots.
Six minutes and an 18-3 run later, it was all over.
"I think we had to turn it up a notch," said Cardston head coach Dallen Leavitt. "We started playing a little more zone pressure and they caved a little on that."
Ranked fifth among Alberta Schools Athletic Association 4A teams, Cardston has come to expect tough outings from teams who want to prove themselves. Leavitt gave credit to Hat High, noting they're a dangerous team in the making.
The Mohawks themselves seem to agree.
"We have a lot of talent, but being a young team we don't mesh well together, we've got to bond more," said Connor Fischer, a Grade 11 forward who had nine points on the night. "It'll be good next year, same team, same guys."
Lewis Brown led Hat High with 13 points, followed by senior Mike Grisonich with 11. Watson noted most of his players had good spurts Friday, but it seemed like nobody was able to find their top gear for the entire contest.
"Once we figure out how to finish we're going to put 80, 90 points a night up on the scoreboard," said Watson. "With a young team you go in spurts. We've got to learn to play for four quarters."
Next up for the Mohawks is a Saturday game against 4-4 Magrath, 7 p.m. at Hat High. After that is South Zone playoffs in Lethbridge.
In earlier games Friday, all three of Cardston's teams beat the Mohawks and Kwahommies.
The varsity girls game was 87-31 in Cardston's favour, with Sidney Carlson scoring 31 for the 9-1 Cougars and Jessica Purnell responding with eight for the 2-7 Kwahommies.
In junior varsity girls Cardston won 48-31. Zoe Tremblay of Hat High scored 11. Cardston's junior boys claimed a 75-59 victory, led by 16 points from Ted Varley. Liam Mohanraj scored 15 for the Mohawks.
All four Hat High teams play Magrath Saturday, with the girls at 1 and 3 p.m. followed by the boys at 5 and 7 p.m.
