The Holy Trinity Academy Knights didn’t qualify for the 3A provincial high school boys basketball championships, but they played in the next best thing last week.
The Knights finished with a 1-2 record at the South Central Zones in High River March 6-9. The zone is stacked and the eight-team tournament featured the top three 3A teams and the number-six team in Alberta.
The second-ranked Canmore Crusaders ousted Holy Trinity Academy (HTA) 84-63 March 8 in the double elimination tournament.
The Knights gave them a scare, building up a 10-point lead in the first half. In fact, HTA had a seven-point lead at 45-38 with 58 seconds left in the first half. However, Canmore pumped in a three point shot, followed by a pair of layups to tie the game at 45-45 at halftime.
“I thought we played one of the best first halves of the year,” Knights coach Sam Aiello said. “We played great defence and we boxed out well — it was really nice to see. It would have been nice to have the lead at halftime, but if you would have told me we would have been tied at half before the game I would have took it.
“They are the number two team in the province and we were right there with them.”
Knights small forward Matt Vant Erve agreed.
“Our spirits were up at halftime — we were tied and it was like we got a fresh start at 0-0,” Vant Erve said. “In the second half, we just weren’t getting back on defence.”
Vant Erve led the Knights in scoring with 18 points, 14 of which came in the first half.
However, if you play only half a game against a top-ranked team, you are going to find yourself behind quickly. The Knights struggled in the third quarter — scoring only seven points — and found themselves down 68-52 after 30 minutes.
“We just couldn’t sustain things in the second half,” Aiello said. “We got tired and made some mistakes. The third quarter killed us.”
With the game out of reach, Aiello made sure his five graduating players — Braydon Garagan, Kyler Helinsky, Jordan Lee, Colton Vessey and Vant Erve —were on the floor during the final two minutes of the game.
“These guys have played together for a lot of years and I just thought it would be nice to put him on the floor together for one last time,” Aiello said.
The gesture meant a lot to Garagan.
“We have been playing together since we were in Grade 7 so it was really important for us to finish off together,” he said.
The Knights opened the tournament with a 72-58 loss to George McDougall Mustangs on March 6.
“Once again we were tied at halftime,” Aiello said. “Ultimately, down the stretch they were just too big for us and scored easy baskets underneath.”
The sixth-ranked Mustangs have three players in their line-up who are six-foot-eight.
The Knights staved off elimination by beating the Springbank Phoenix 71-52 on March 7.
“We played really well that game and we got everybody a lot of minutes,” Aiello said. “Springbank played us hard right to the end, which is what a zone game is all about.”
Aiello summed up the season as one of improvement.
“We made a tremendous improvement from Christmas on,” Aiello said. “We were 3-6 at the break and we finished at 16-14.”
The Knights will have six players returning for next year.
“I just hope our returning six are going to make a commitment to get better,” Aiello said. “I think we will be a competitive team next year.”
The zone championship was won by the Cochrane Cobras who beat the Chestermere Lakers in the final. Both teams will now advance to the 3A provincials
Girls ousted
The Holy Trinity Academy Knights Senior girl’s season came to an end when they dropped a 58-55 decision to the Cochrane Cobras on Friday at the 3A South Central Zone championship in Airdrie.
“We didn’t play well and we lost that game by three in a heartbreaker,” Knights coach Ashley Herzog said.
The Knights started the tournament with a convincing 66-56 victory over the Bow Valley Bobcats on March 6.
The victory advanced HTA to the semifinal against the Chestermere Lakers on Thursday. . The Knights’ shooting percentage against the Lakers dropped lower than the approval rating for the Alberta budget.
“We played horrible,” Herzog said. “We shot 18 per cent and had one of the worst games of our season.” There were some highlights, however.
Herzog said grads Ryan Kennedy and Kylie Pozniak had another strong weekend in their final game as Knights. Jenna Lorenz and Claire Thorimbert also played well on the weekend.
