Spartans, Hawks face off in first tourney

Shannon LeClair  

Times Reporter

 

This past weekend both the Holy Cross Collegiate Hawks and the Strathmore High School Spartans held their first senior boys basketball tournament of the year. The Spartans/Hawks invitational saw 12 teams come to compete. 

“We won our pool which gave us an opportunity to play in the semi-finals and then in the bronze medal game. Unfortunately we came up short in both the semi-finals and bronze medal games, but not due to lack of effort,” said Christopher Hall, coach for the Spartans. 

“Our game against Vauxhall in the semi-finals was by far our toughest and yet at the same time our best game of the season. We were matched up against a guard who came in averaging close to 30 points a game, and we were able to limit him to eight points due to a remarkable defensive effort on behalf the boys. We came up just shy of making a finals appearance as a result of their collective effort.”

Hall said he believes this tournament has taught the boys a tremendous amount about what it will take for them to beat some of the better teams in both their league and zone. 

Despite a late injury to one of the team’s top players on Dec. 10, the Hawks fared well in the tournament as well. 

Daniel O’Leary was injured in Saturday’s semi-final game against Drumheller, when he separated his shoulder. For at least the next month O’Leary will be on the bench, and is scheduled to see a specialist to determine if he is able to hit the court again in January. 

“It went pretty well, we went 3-1 and we came third in our tournament out of 12. We beat Strathmore High for third place, they got fourth,” said Hawks coach Michael Annicchiarico.

“This was really their first tournament against senior competition which is one of the reasons why I’m pretty pleased with the result, they kind of rose to the occasion so to speak.

“I think we can improve on just being ready to play. I think we sometimes start our games a little slowly, we sometimes have some slow first quarters.”

Annicchiarico said he also thinks the team can work on their offense and swing the ball around more. He said they often get into too many individuals trying to do it themselves and not looking for the open guy. 

The Spartans played again in Okotoks on Dec. 14. Results were unavailable as of press time. 

The Hawks have a four-team tournament in Acme this weekend, and their next home game will be Dec. 21.