Hawks senior boys miss zones, girls take bronze

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

There are a handful of magic words in sports that can affect the outcome of games.
When the refs hear them – or a variation of them – they have been known to put their mark on the game, right or wrong, regardless of the stakes.
That’s precisely what happened to the Holy Cross Collegiate (HCC) Hawks senior boys basketball team as they were clawing for an opportunity to attend the 2A South Central Zone tournament March 7 against the Oilfields High School Drillers at the HCC gym.
Trailing the zone play-in game by 12 in the fourth, the Hawks took the lead with seven seconds left when their leading scorer, Alex Nwoye, canned his fourth three-pointer of the game to tie it.
The Drillers called a time out and fumbled the inbound pass. A few players scrambled with it and the Hawks appeared to turn the ball over with less than a second on the clock.
In the dog pile for the loose ball, Brandon Middlemiss got fouled. Also earning a technical foul was Nwoye, as the refs heard him use an expletive.
“I didn’t hear him say it and Alex said he didn’t say it,” said Hawks Head Coach Josh Jalbert. “I’ve known him for a long time and that’s never been his style, to lose his cool like that. I’m not sure what the ref heard.”
Once the dust settled, Middlemiss walked down to the other end of the court for his two shots. Missing the front half, he made good on his second attempt to go up by one.
Before time could start again, the Drillers needed to shoot Nwoye’s technical, which they nailed to force overtime.
Overtime normally wouldn’t be an issue, but Nwoye was kicked out of the game after leading the Hawks with 32 points on 11-of-31 shooting.
The Hawks No. 2 option, Landon Osachuk, was also unavailable in overtime with an injury.
Without their top two scoring options, the Hawks were handled in overtime 14-1, falling 69-56 after the extra frame.
“It was heart-breaking. The guys took that loss really hard and it’s a tough way to see our season end,” said Jalbert. “Especially for Landon, who finished out his last high school game.”
As unfortunate as the Hawks were at the end of regulation, admittedly, Jalbert stated that they didn’t take care of business before then, which led to the sad ending.
“We had one of our worst shooting performances of the season,” said Jalbert. “I think if we play this game 10 times, we win eight or nine of them.”
The Hawks entered as the sixth-seed and were taking on the 11th-ranked Drillers. Despite the mismatch, the Hawks only shot 24.1 per cent from the floor, 18.8 per cent from downtown and 66.7 per cent from the charity stripe. They were 2-0 against the Drillers this season in the Foothills Athletic Council.
The senior Hawks girl’s program made it to their zone tournament and wrapped up their season with a shiny bronze medal.
Competing without their two seniors at the junior varsity 2A South Central Zone tournament, the Hawks clipped the Hugh Sutherland School Kodiaks 81-53.
Leading the way was Hope Given, who turned into a monster, recording 39 points in the bronze medal match. Angeline Palardy rode shotgun and registered 17 points.
The Hawks opened the tourney with a close 59-51 loss to the St. Joseph’s Collegiate school.
“It was an excellent way to finish out the season,” said Hawks Head Coach Joe Lepage. “The team played strong defensively, moved the ball from outside to insideat will and maintained a positive attitude and supported one another.”