Wm. E. Hay Grade 9 boys basketball team won the CARA junior high basketball tournament hosted by Stettler last weekend, promising a strong showing for local basketball in the years ahead.
The boys defeated Erskine 87-7 and Castor 64-6 to advance into the finals against Coronation.
"It was a very tough game which saw the Wm. E. Hay boys emerge with the championship winning 61-37," said coach Norbert Baharally.
Leading scorers for the weekend were Justin Fleischhacker, Nicholas Baharally, Andrew Kim and Jordan Bauman.
Grade 9 boys team is headed to Red Deer for 3J CWAJHAA Basketball Championships this weekend.
Meantime, the junior varsity boys basketball team wrapped up their season last weekend finishing on a high note.
"All season the boys have steadily improved in all aspects of the game but rarely were rewarded with victories due to lack of scoring. " said coach Warren Aspenes.
"However, this weekend proved to be different as the boys walked away with the consolation side title of the league tournament in Camrose."
Entering the tournament ranked 8th, JV boys had to face first place Lacombe.
"The game was very competitive throughout and we found ourselves down by only four points at the half," said Aspenes.
The second half saw the boys make a few bad turnovers which seemed to provide momentum for Lacombe. The boys lost the game 59-41.
On Saturday boys took on Wetaskiwin in the morning and Lindsay Thurber in the consolation final. Both teams had beat the Wm. E Hay Wildcats soundly in the regular season by margins of 21 and 35 points respectively.
“Finally, our boys had a scoring touch combined with smothering defense resulting in a 64-46 victory over Wetaskiwin and a 58 -37 trouncing of Lindsay Thurber,” said Aspenes.
“As one of the players said after the game ‘I guess we peaked just at the right time coach’”.