“Ten Minutes of Free Throws followed by ten minutes of layup lines.
These shots will be the the difference between wins and loses.” This
was often followed by groans and a lack of enthusiasm in the first few
minutes of each drill. Once a handful of baskets were made in a row,
the boys would begin to shout their team catch phase of, “make those,”
after each attempted shot, prompting each other to strive to make each
and every basket.
A handful of boys who had been on the previous years Grade Four to
Six PCA Boys Basketball team knew that they hadn’t “made those” quite
enough in 2018s’ tournament and were determined to improve upon a
lacklustre 1 win, 1 Tie and 5 loses. This was why, while they didn’t
necessarily enjoy the high volume of free throws and layups they had
to take every Monday at practice, they were willing to in order to win
a couple more games in 2019. This attitude and leadership was a
determining factor in a vast improvement over the months of practice
before the day of the Tournament. This team gelled together over the
course of those four months of practice with modest hopes of 2 wins
this year and at minimum a whole lot of fun together.
However, after all those hours of practice and hard work, the ACSI
Grade Four to Six Basketball Tournament is one that almost didn’t
occur. This would have certainly spoiled the practice time for seven
local schools and close to a hundred students that entered. Severe
weather warnings on the night of February 6th, made it impossible for
schools to attend the following day. Luckily, all the member schools
were able to work together and reschedule for the following day,
Friday February 8th. If you are a fan of the PCA Eagles that extra
twenty- four hours was worth the wait.
On a frosty morning of Friday February 8th, 10 boys packed into two
vans with their coaches and made there way to Brampton Christian
School in what ended up being perfect conditions, leading to an early
arrival. This extra thirty minutes in the gym allowed the boys- Shane,
Ethan, Joshua, Issac, Isaac, Kaeden, Enoch, Josiah, Toby and Collin
(once his shoes arrived)- ample time to warm up and “make those” shots
they had spent months working on. When the time finally arrived and
Joshua went for the initial Tip Off of the tournament, the boys would
know find out if the hundreds of shots they had put up would be the
difference in winning and losing.
PCA played in the opening game of the tournament against an
undermanned Philopateer team still waiting for half of their team to
arrive. Our boys got off to a hot start right away, stealing passes,
making lay ups and pressuring the opposing team every time they had
the ball. Knowing that the opponent couldn’t make any substitutions we
pushed the pace up racing up and down the court. At the half PCA was
up with a very convincing double digit lead. The second half was not
much different, our boys continued to battle hard and take advantage
of an undersized Philopateer team. At the final whistle the score was
closer than the play suggested and our boys won 26-8. This boost of
confidence definitely made a big impact. After the struggle to win the
year before, the boys knew that they could make a big improvement and
their win total could sky rocket. Our boys took that confidence into
two challenging games that followed. First against Oakville and then
Richmond Hill.
In that first match up, our boys got off to a quick lead at the start
of the game. Bot teams played poor offence, or great defence depending
on your point of view, and the game was tied at the half. Oakville had
some creative set plays lined up for us in the second half; however,
our boys had noticed them while watching Oakville in its previous
game. That allowed our defence to set up for what they had planned for
us. In that second half we squeaked out a very close victory and we
won our second game with a very modest score of 16-12, where a
majority of the teams’ pointed coming form the centre Joshua. Already
into the second game the Eagles had surpassed the total of the last
two seasons combined. They boys were confident that the this
tournament would be a great opportunity to grow in their skills and
win multiple games.
The following game against Richmond Hill was also tightly contested,
but how the game got there was vastly different. It was a significant
game for one of our students Shane who left RHCA and joined PCA this
year as he was playing against a number of his friends. He was
determined to play very well from the get go. With some of this
pressure that he put on himself he began the game launching some deep
shots getting PCA an early lead. Inspired by his sharp shooting the
team followed in scoring quickly. At the half PCA was up double
digits similarly to game one of the tournament. However, the second
half did not go as smoothly. RHCA scored a number of easy baskets off
of turnovers at the half and cut the lead to only a couple of the
points. After a timeout and reminder to stay calm, and play a smarter
more focused second half, it was again Shane who was able to close out
a nail biter. PCA won again, but a very stress filled game ended
18-15, with the clock being the Eagles biggest help to secure the win.
It likely could have been a loss if the game had lasted a few more
minutes.
This close game lead to a team discussion on smarter play in the next
game against North Toronto. Unlikely the previous two match ups NTCS
had not had a strong showing up to that point of the tournament and
the boy Eagles were determined start fast. The starting five moved the
ball quickly and played an excellent team game in the first half, and
PCA was off to a lead off the bat. Lay ups were easy to find, and
tough defence lead to a many fast break point opportunities. By the
half it was over a twenty point Eagle lead with a number of baskets
score by starting players including Kaeden and Shane who cut through
the defence almost at will. In the second half the team experienced a
hockey-like line change where the starting five all switched with the
remainder of the players. In this game Toby met his tournament goal of
one basket and then surpassed it quickly with a few more points as
well. Josiah handled the ball exceptionally in his new role at point
guard, both passing and shooting well as he tallied a number of
basketballs. By the end of the game it was a dominating victory 34-5.
This would end up being the biggest margin of victory in the
tournament for PCA and an unthinkable record going into the tournament
meant that reaching the championship game was a possibility.
More than half way through the tournament the expectations had
shifted and the boys were ecstatic to be a resounding 4W- OL, at least
they were until they checked the results of some of the previous games
of their next opponent. The host school Brampton had some impressive
victories including two monster wins by FORTY plus points. Despite
having some big wins themselves the boys had lost some of their
previously unbridled confidence. This was amplified when they took
notice at some of the size and skill of the Brampton players. It
appeared that the boys were more than a little intimidated, but the
game was meant to be played. Unlike the previous four games PCA did
not get to a quick start, but found itself in a hole. The Brampton
players moved the ball and played with strategies beyond their years.
The PCA defence was unable to box out and get rebounds and Brampton
had many second chances at the goal and piled up a big lead. Our
offence stalled and our players did too much to try and score rather
than working together. By the half it was clear that it would be the
first loss of the tournament. The priority shifted to the sixth and
final game on the schedule would decide if PCA would have a rematch
with Brampton in the championship game. The decision was made to rest
the starting five player and give the remainder of the team more time
on the court. The second half flew by with both teams trading baskets
regularly. By the end Brampton had won convincingly 35-16 pushing the
team record to an extremely respectable 4W- 1L.
The goal in the final match up against Westminster was to claim
victory to ensure a rematch with the Brampton squad. The Eagles knew
that a big first half lead could ensure some rest before the
championship game. The five on the court dominated the first half with
each of the boys scoring multiple baskets. In this half Enoch scored a
number of points to push the lead higher and higher until the half
ended with a resounding 20-0 score. Echoing the game against NTCS all
five shifted off allowing for some new ball handlers to emerge.
Collin, took over the reigns as point guard and facilitated to
offence. This lead to baskets from both Issac and Isaac, and Ethan,
meaning that all ten Eagles had made their way onto the score sheet,
showing their incredible team depth. By the end of the game PCA had
tallied 30, only allowing 2. This set up a final against Brampton the
only team who PCA had lost to.
The team was set to improve on a poor first performance and close the
tournament off with a win. The strategy had changed for the Eagles, a
double team of the opponents centre on defence and significantly more
passing on offence. The boy Eagles started off extremely well scoring
the opening basket. The rest of the first half was hard fought with
both teams trading baskets. Nearing the end of the opening ten minutes
PCA held a very slim 12-10 lead. The boys however were very tired and
the depth of the Brampton team was starting to show. The Brampton
players began to sneak across court after missed PCA shots leaving
them all alone dribbling towards the basket. Play after play two
points appeared again and again. The Eagles starting five began to run
out of steam and Brampton had a very quick run of points going up
20-12. The last few minutes of the game proved to be inconsequential a
the teams traded baskets. In the end PCA lost 26-15 which was by far
the closest any team faired against the tournament champions that day.
While the initial feelings of loss were tough, the boys rebounded
quickly and their sadness turned to joy. They had finished beating the
other five schools and it was clear that the field of teams were all
outmatched by the victorious Brampton squad. The PCA boys who had
faced a cruel 2018 Tournament were especially proud of the improvement
that they made in a short year; and overwhelmed with confidence that
the core of the team would be returning for a final season the
following year. In the end PCA finished with five wins and only the
two losses; every player on the team scored over the course of the day
and four boys scored over twenty points. Shane led the team with 36,
Joshua was close behind with 31, next Kaeden with 28 and Josiah with
another 21. Overall, the team played extremely well finishing in a
very respectable Second place.
A special thanks to our small group of fans composed of Moms and
Dads, as well as our teams biggest cheerleader Mrs. Aspinall, who
every year should be the real winner of the teams’ Encourager Medal.
The day never would have been possible without the parents putting in
the extra time to get their sons late after school every week. As as
coach I was incredibly proud of the way these boys played and
practiced all season long. They brought a lot of enthusiasm to each
and every minute we had together. They worked as a team rather than
individuals and it showed on and off the court. I am excited to see
the returning members of the team come back next year and strive to do
even better than this year, and if we are luck enough it will be PCA
holding up the trophy at the end of the day, but that will only be
possible if they make those shots.
