Big picture is Zones

Times Reporter   

 

With a 2-6 season finish, Strathmore High School boys basketball coach Ken Smith isn’t worried about his team’s league record – his ultimate goal is to succeed at Zones in Olds on March 15.

“We kind of see these league games as practice and preparation for our Zones,” Smith said. “We definitely have been limiting our turnovers from the start of the season to now. The boys have shown a lot of growth, as individuals and as a team. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

As for league play, the boys will play Foothills Composite High School on March 5 for playoffs, prior to the time of print. In previous matchups this season, Foothills was victorious; 62-57 on Jan. 8 and 90-47 on Feb. 27.

“The thing that’s funny with that is that we played their junior team the first time,” Smith said. “They’re a big 4A school, but they brought their senior team the second time. Their senior team is one of the top teams in the province.”

In the Feb. 27 matchup, Smith was proud of his squad for taking the lead up until halftime.

“That was a big accomplishment. But then, they put in their starters for the third quarter and just kind of pumped up the score, then put their bench back in,” he said. “Oh my God, it’s like boys playing against men. Seriously, there was a kid on there that had two huge dunks. Probably four or five of their starting line up could all be playing at the CIS level. It would be like us going to play against Mount Royal, or SAIT, almost.”

It didn’t help, Smith said, that they had played the night before against the Strathcona Tweedsmuir Spartans.

“I’d imagine it was tiring,” Smith said, though his boys won that game, 73-45. 

“We were down at the half. We weren’t playing as a team together and executing properly. After the half, we pulled it away. We were up by close to 30 points,” Smith said. “We then held off a bit and relaxed, and used our press to advantage there. We picked up the tempo of the game and they just couldn’t run with us.”

However, on March 3, Strathcona got their revenge, beating Strathmore 55-47. The boys have scored 443 points so far this season, but have allowed 552.