Last Monday, February 3, we played La Ruche. From talking with other coaches and looking at their results during the year, we knew they were good. And since we were coming off a five-day Winter Carnival break, rust was a real concern. But from the opening tip your Spartans were flying. Les Carnicas are a full-court pressure team, but the boys matched the pace, sprinting out in transition, carving through the press, and – get this – FINISHING! In the highest scoring first quarter of the season, Luke, Daniel, Jeremiah, Jeremy, Josh and Bo attacked the rim and hit everything they looked at to build a 20-14 lead (which would’ve been 20-11 if not for a half-court buzzer beater heave that – and this will be a theme – hit nothing but net).

 

The pace of the game never let up. Thanks in large part to their feast-or-famine 3-point shooting (swishes or airballs), La Ruche battled back in the second and third quarters to tie the game 45-45 going into the fourth. By this point, our otherworldly finishing had dried up, but Player Of The Game Bo was carrying the offense (25 points!) with pinpoint precision from inside 12 feet. Defensively, I loved what we were doing, giving up nothing inside, often forcing La Ruche to chuck a deep three out of frustration. But two things hurt us in this game: 1) how many unlikely threes our opponents made, and 2) the lack of a shot clock. We were defending well enough on this day that a shot clock definitely would have helped us.  

 

The fourth quarter was intense, with both teams locking down on defence. With three minutes remaining, we were down by 6, but in one of the most impressive stretches of the season, the boys did not panic, they stayed disciplined, and they methodically brought it all the way back, highlighted by one more pressure Bo-bucket to make it 53-52 with 30 seconds to go. What a comeback! La Ruche comes down, chucks another three, not close, we corral the rebound, only 20 seconds left, no need to rush, but rush we do, and throw the ball away on an ill-advised attempt to fast break. So La Ruche gets another chance, and this time their deep, deep three is true. Down by 2 now, we elect to not call timeout (no need to let their defence set up), race up the floor, and draw a foul with 0.4 sec left on the clock. Unfortunately, we miss both free throws, and we lose 55-53. Heartbreaker. La Ruche goes nuts – of course – as SC finds itself on the wrong end of another fairytale ending (Richmond overtime, anyone?), despite playing a very good game.

 

Which meant that making the RSEQ playoffs now depended solely on the final league game of the year vs Triolet. On their home court. Win and we’re in. The biggest game of the season, for all the marbles. The stakes could not be higher.

 

So we go out and play our worst game of the year.

 

And win 33-28. Irony.

 

I actually don’t want to relive this game – it was that tough to endure in realtime – but I will say two things: 1) it was the ugliest offensive display I’ve been a part of in 20 years (weakly attacking the rim, shying away and fading from contact, bone-headed passes, butterfingers, bizarre decision-making, endless bricks from inside and outside, and 6 for 28 from the free-throw line), and 2) thank God for defence and rebounding and effort and hustle; they are the reasons why we won this game and made the playoffs.

 

Defense and rebounding and effort and hustle. They’ve gotten us into the RSEQ quarter finals as the 8^th seed this Sunday at 3:30 pm against the #1-ranked team in D4 – undefeated Du Phare – on the show court at Bishop’s University.

 

Are we the underdog? Of course we are. But I’ve seen us play well. I’ve seen what we did to Gray Academy at CAIS, and BCS just nine days ago. I know what we are capable of.

 

If we bring our best,

- Coaches VD & B

 

Overall Record:  13 wins 12 losses      

Points for per game:  47.9     Points allowed per game:  41.4