When the Saints of Sacred Heart and the Yorkton Regional Raiders got together for an exhibition game late on Saturday night, nobody seemed surprised that they would need a little bit of overtime to determine a victor.
The Yorkton Regional Raiders got it done but it did not come easy.
"We needed to dig in on defence," offered Jason Payne, coach of the Raiders following nearly two-and-a-half hours of what could arguably be the best basketball action within the City limits.This was by far the best sports event I've seen in the City since Yorkton and LaRonge in the hockey finals last spring.
It was amazing to watch the top male basketball players in the City go at it all out, in high gear, full steam ahead, whatever you want to call it, it was awesome.
The gymnasium was jam-packed full of teenagers. Usually on basketball weekends, there are more parents then students watching the action from the bleachers; on Saturday it was the other way around.
What the final match of the tournament came down to was the Yorkton Regional High School senior boys against the Sacred Heart troupe.
This was the best basketball you will find anywhere in the City.
The two Yorkton high schools' senior boys' basketball programs are so good they have to go into extra time to beat each other.
It did not start out as a close encounter however.
Sacred Heart was beating them bad. Really bad. Something happened during that halftime and the public school got their things together and showed that they were not going to go away that easy.Payne said it meant his team had to clamp down on defence and keep their composure.SHHS jumped out to an 18-8 lead early on and sunk baskets left, right and centre. Everybody was clicking like they were the Sacred Heart version of the Harlem Globetrotters.
Payne said it was "composure" that kept the Raiders in it, adding that the scores when the senior teams get together over the past few years "have been pretty close".
He reminded that SHHS had won the previous meeting between the two schools not long ago at Melville.
He denied that this one was revenge.
"It's more fun," he said of coaching in a game like this.
Garrett Karcha, coach of the SHHS senior team, seemed like he had a lot more fun.
"We expected a close game. It's a really exciting game to coach. It's definitely a good learning experience."
The YRHS/SHHS senior boys matchup was an awesome display of everything basketball.
Dakota German played an awesome game. Preston Liebrecht worked himself to the bone. Logan Coutts was everywhere and Mark Kuemper sent the show to the OT zone when he hit a shot from the paint with less than three seconds left in the game that brought those in attendance to their feet a couple times late in the game.
The lead changed hands several times in the last eight minutes of play.
"They started to wear us down," suggested Karcha after watching his team build up nearly a 20-point lead.
"Mark (Kuemper) scored in the paint (to send it to overtime)."
Karcha said he wanted to set the schedule to allow the two Yorkton schools to go at it, bringing the weekend schedule to an end close to 10 p.m., Saturday. The games began Friday at 2:30 p.m.
He said it was good to see such a large crowd on hand and it was said that night that it wouldn't be too far fetched to charge $1-2 to watch a game like this because the action is usually unbelievable and both schools were no doubt at their absolute best.
"This draws a crowd out," Karcha pointed out. "And that's always a good thing."
If there's anything you'd like to see covered by Game 7, please forward your suggestions to the Yorkton This Week sportsdesk.
