Bobcats Impress Against Top-Ranked Ghosts

Jonas Emilsson
www.KramMag.com

Bishop O’Byrne Bobcats coach Kurt Luttmerding knew that the Bishop Grandin Ghosts would be looking for some payback coming into last Thursday night’s game.

Both teams entered the game with identical 8-0 regular season records, but the Bobcats had previously gotten the better of the Ghosts twice in tournament play earlier this year.  The Ghosts, who currently hold the No. 1 ranking in the province surely would be looking to prove they’re worthy of the seeding by trouncing the No. 7-ranked Bobcats in their own gym, in front of their own fans.

Photo by Jonas Emilsson

But once again the Bobcats played the part of the thorn in the Ghosts’ side, coming away with a 65-50 victory.

Don’t let the score fool you however, this game was as tight as one would expect a game to be between two of the city’s top teams duking it out for the top spot in the standings.

In fact, as the final minutes of the 4th quarter approached the result of the game was still up in the air.

With less than your minutes to play to Bobcats were hanging on to a narrow 51-49 lead, keeping both fan bases on their edge of their seats in anticipation of what team would own the bragging rights until the two fierce rivals meet again.

But the Bobcats found the energy in the final minutes to hit enough clutch to put together the game’s only sustained run.

“I think we were able to sustain that intensity level a bit longer than them,” said Luttmerding.  “It was so close and certainly not a 15 point difference.  We hit some clutch shots down the stretch and they missed their clutch shots, which totally helped us.”

Bobcats guard Paolo Garvez felt his teams ability to use their bench throughout the game was key in helping the team find necessary crunch time energy.

“The game was back and forth and we noticed that they didn’t go too deep into their bench and we kind of used our bench so we had a little more energy at the end of their game and that really helped us spark a run.

Garvez and Garret Ladell led all scorers with 19 points.

Austen Hartley scored a team high 17 points for the Ghosts.

6’7″ Riles Friesen may have had the toughest assignment on the night, having to deal with Ghosts 6’4″ post player Grant Peters, who has been dominating opponents all season long.

“That was what worried us the most because Grant is a beast,” said Luttmerding.  “We challenged Riley, we gave him a little bit of help, but I just told him that was his his best game of basketball that he’s played.”

Riley’s efforts resulted in Peters scoring just nine points, well below his season average.

The impressive win leaves the a certain level of validation for the Bobcats, who despite impressive victories against top-ranked opponents keep being considered the underdogs against top-ranked teams.

“We knew that they were number one and we were number seven, so we were the underdogs,” said Garvez.  “We just wanted to work hard and hopefully play the best game we’ve ever played.”

Garvez was donning the team’s red hardhat after the game, awarded to a member of the team that the coaching staff felt had the biggest positive influence on the game.

The honour was well earned by Garvez, who played a terrific game at the point guard position.  According to Luttmerding, Garvez played his best game of the year against the Ghosts.  The performance couldn’t have been timed better considering that he was matched up against Brayden Daniel, a tricky left-handed guard capable of dominating a game.

“We know that Paolo is quicker but he lacks the size in the matchup,” said Luttmerding.  “We hoped that Paolo could win that because we know that Brayden is the key to that team so if we can perhaps saw him off and maybe win that matchup, we’re happy.”

“He was everywhere.  On the play where he came back and stole the ball after turning the ball over, that’s the loudest that I’ve ever heard this place.  That’s when I started thinking that we might win this game.”

The Bobcats close out the regular season on Tuesday night against the Central Memorial Rams.  The Ghosts will face a very tough St. Mary’s Saints teams to finish of their regular season, also on Tuesday night.

Photo by Jonas Emilsson