Jonas Emilsson
www.KramMag.com

The Father Lacombe Lasers senior boys basketball team learned a valuable lesson on Tuesday night when they paid a visit to Ernest Manning High School to square off against the Griffins.

The lesson is a common one, preached by pretty much every basketball coach at every level – play the game hard from tip-off to final buzzer, because taking a couple of minutes off at the end of a game can come back and haunt you.

After leading by as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter, the Lasers fought off a furious rally by the Griffins, escaping the game with a 89-80 victory to improve their record to 2-1 on the season.

In the end, no harm done, and Lasers’ head Ian Couture has a real-time example to point to next time he preaches about slacking off when a victory seems certain.

“We’re learning from every game,” said Couture.  “We have five grade-12s back that won the division two championship last year and we have a good core group of grade-11 kids.  They’re learning to play with each other every game.  We’ll learn from this game, play the last two minutes and make sure we play 40 minutes.”

Majwang Mager scored 24 points to lead the Lasers and Jonah Weyessa chipped in with a solid 20 points.

Lee Holmgren scored 24 points to pace the Griffins’ attack.

After slugging it out on the scoreboard for the first quarter and a half the Lasers went on a timely run in the latter stages of the second quarter, stretching a 28-24 lead to a 42-32 advantage within four minutes of play heading into the locker room for the halftime break.

By the time the third quarter was over they held a commanding 66-44 lead and seemed to be cruising to an easy victory.

But a furious late fourth quarter rally by Griffins almost took it all away.  After struggling to consistently find their range for the majority of the game, suddenly they couldn’t miss.  Three-pointers fell from everywhere and their big man Matthew Ellis took over the post game, quickly cleaning up on any shots that missed.

Ellis, a grade-11 post player, was a thorn in the Lasers’ side for most of the night thanks to an array of nifty post moves powerful drives to the basket.

“He’s very polished, fundamentally sound, he can handle the ball, shoot and he can throw it down too,” said Couture about Ellis’ game.  “He’s fun to watch.”

In the end, the Lasers can go into the Christmas break knowing they’re on the right path for when things pick up again in early January.

The let-down in the final few minutes of Tuesday night’s game can’t take away from an otherwise wonderfully played game that showcased their team speed and athleticism that’s sure to give several teams a hard time.

“I thought it was a great game,” said Couture.  “I thought Manning is a well-coached team and they have one of the best bigs i the city, but I thought we played very good team defence and we were running the ball.  We just need to finish that last two minutes and play four quarters.”

“We’re still trying to find each other as a team but I thought overall this was our best team performance.”

The Lasers’ record improved to 2-1 while the Griffins fell to 1-2.

Other scores from Tuesday night’s action on the hard court.

Jr Boys Basketball 
Bishop O’Byrne    77    Crescent Heights    48
Dr. E.P. Scarlett    91    Centennial    67
Ernest Manning    68    Father Lacombe    56
Lester B. Pearson    42    Bowness    34
Bishop McNally    71    Notre Dame    69
Sir Winston Churchill    75    William Aberhart    69
St. Mary’s    77    Central Memorial    43
St. Francis    57    Western Canada    50
St. Gabriel    67    John G. Diefenbaker    56

Jr Girls Basketball            
William Aberhart    59    Bishop Grandin    53
Centennial    52    St. Francis    45
St. Mary’s    59    Central Memorial    17
Henry Wise Wood    72    John G. Diefenbaker    40

Sr Boys Basketball
Bishop O’Byrne    69    Crescent Heights    36
Centennial    76    Dr. E.P. Scarlett    48
Father Lacombe    89    Ernest Manning    80
Bishop Grandin    104    Henry Wise Wood    47
Lester B. Pearson    93    Bowness    58
Notre Dame    100    Bishop McNally    98
Sir Winston Churchill    105    William Aberhart    51
St. Mary’s    90    Central Memorial    50
St. Francis    62    Western Canada    50
St. Gabriel    67    John G. Diefenbaker    62

Sr Girls Basketball            
William Aberhart    70    Bishop Grandin    47
Bishop O’Byrne    96    Notre Dame    37
Centennial    58    St. Francis    55
Henry Wise Wood    58    John G. Diefenbaker    52