Ghosts Impress in Calgary Basketball Classic Opener

Jonas Emilsson
www.KramMag.com

Last year the highly ranked Bishop Grandin Ghosts suffered an embarrassing pre-season defeat in the opening round of the Calgary Basketball Classic.

The loss undoubtedly stung, but in the long run it may have helped build a stronger foundation for a team stacked with talent that eventually would go on to capture the Senior Boys’ division one basketball title.

This year the team is once again ranked No. 1 in Calgary, and they probably possess an even greater talent level than last year’s squad.

As for getting over the hump of getting past the first round in the 2012 version of the Calgary Basketball Classic, the Ghosts took care of business with a convincing 88-63 win over the No. 16 ranked Crescent Heights Cowboys on Monday night.

And according to the team’s first-year head coach Mike Henry, last year’s loss has never been mentioned.

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“I think they’re playing in the present day, I mean, we didn’t talk about it,” he said after his team’s opening night win.

Henry has the luxury of working with a team filled with players that know what it takes to win. Along with the returning players from last years title-winning senior team, this year’s versions of the Ghosts also includes players from last years’ junior team that also won the Div. I championship.

Champions know how to raise their game in key moments of a game. The Ghosts did just that against a scrappy Cowboys team that played a determined opening 20 minutes. The Cowboys battled the Ghosts to a 17-17 draw at the end of the first quarter and trailed just 43-38 at the halfway mark.

The second half however belonged to the more experienced Ghosts.

Thanks to superb defending and offensive bursts by their key scorers the Ghosts stretched their lead to 65-46 after three quarters of play.

Just like that they easily justified their No. 1 ranking, proving again that they know how to take care of business when business needs taking care of.

“I think it helps in tight games against a team that’s supposedly ranked 16th,” said Henry. “I think it’s definitely a humbling experience to have a tight game. We have two groups of players that won city championships last year so we’re coming from pretty high places and to get brought back down to earth I think helps.”

“In the second half our defence played a lot better,” continued Henry. “We held them to four points in eight minutes and 47 seconds in the third so that was good.”

Considering the team is just starting to form under a new coaching staff introducing a new style of play, some early season hiccups should be considered. The key word often thrown around in the world of team sports is ‘chemistry’, but it’s thrown out there a lot because it’s one of the more important ingredients when building a successful team.

“Our guys are starting to gel and trust each other a little more,” said Henry. “We have a new team, new coaches, new offence and new players so everything is going to take a few more days to put together.”

Based on what he’s witnessed early on, Henry feels he’ll need to instil the importance of playing a complete game right from the opening tip-off until the final buzzer sounds.

“Our consistency is way off right now and to get them to play for 40 minutes and practice for the entire time allotted is the biggest trend we have to break,” he said.

“As soon as the players start to know what it feels like to play for 40 minutes and how hard it is work and that it’s not easy to get there, and getting them to buy into a team concept and start policing themselves then it gets easier and some of the work is alleviated from our coaches.”

Luckily for Henry, is team has a lot of individual talent that can help carry them through the rough patches.

Guys like LJ Hegwood, Deiter Posein and Matt Johnson are more than capable of providing leadership in key moments by either creating offence or coming up with big defensive stops.

“LJ brings hard work, athleticism, desire to win and he can play in many positions which helps because he can fill a lot of roles if we have foul trouble and he can create mismatches,” said Henry. “And Deiter, he’s one of the most talented players on the team.”

And when asked about his outstanding point guard Johnson, Henry’s smile grew slightly wider.

“As a coach he’s one of my favourites,” he said. “He’s definitely one our hardest worker, definitely one of the most passionate player we have. He’s really matured and I love coaching him.”

The Ghosts defeated the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs 70-65 on Tuesday night to advance to the semi-final on Thursday against the Bishop McNally Timberwolves.

For more Calgary Basketball Classic scores and schedules check out www.calgarybasketballclassic.ca.

Check out all the action photos from this game HERE.