The Holy Trinity Academy Knights weren’t about to take the Oilfields Drillers lightly in a Foothills Athletic Council Senior boys’ basketball game last week.
Knights coach Sam Aiello saw how the Drillers put a scare in the perennial powerhouse Foothills Falcons earlier in the year. As a result, he wanted to make sure the Knights came out working harder than a short-order cook during Stampede Week when the two teams met on Jan. 5 at Oilfields High School in Black Diamond.
Unfortunately, the Drillers served up the perfect ingredient for the hard-working cooks from Holy Trinity Academy (HTA).
“We just laid an egg,” said Drillers coach Randy Heidebrecht after his team’s 74-45 loss to the Knights. “We need to go out and meet the other team’s energy. HTA came out tonight very motivated and we were not willing to meet their energy.”
Although he is pleased that quality teams from larger schools like HTA and Foothills Composite are concerned about the Drillers, Oilfields has to respond.
“We need to be ready,” Heidebrecht stressed. “I’m not happy enough to just say we are going to be competitive. I believe we have the ability that we can win two and three-point games against these teams. But we can’t just rely on our skills. We have to meet the other team’s energy.”
Knights coach Sam Aiello admitted seeing the Drillers’ close loss to the Foothills Falcons alarmed him so they weren’t about to take Oilfields lightly.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Aiello said. “Looking at the score against Foothills, I knew Oilfields had some good players and they do. But I think our first half was the best half we played all year, especially on defence.”
The Knights took a nearly insurmountable 46-15 lead into the locker room at half time.
“We were ready in that first half,” Aiello said. “I don’t know what happened in the third quarter, but we got it back in the fourth.”
The Drillers were able to cut the lead to 20 points in the third quarter, but were not able to seriously threaten the Knights’ lead.
James LaGrange led the Knights’ attack with 22 points while Luke Sinclair contributed 14 points and Mark Oness had 11 points.
Knights’ point guard Ryan Hassler played approximately 12 minutes in the game, the most action he has seen on the hardwood since snapping his ankle on the gridiron in the fall.
“We want to bring him back slowly, but of course he adds another weapon for us,” Aiello said. “If we get in foul trouble, he might see more minutes, but right now we are going to take our time.”
Drillers’ guard Nick Coolen said the team wasn’t able to keep “the buzz” it created by its strong showing against Foothills.
“This was a wake up call for us,” Coolen said. “We have to be more committed at practice.”
Coolen added he needs to play more disciplined because when he missed some three-point shots early in the game he let it affect his defensive play.
The Drillers got some of that winning buzz back whey beat the Notre Dame Collegiate Timberwolves xxxxzxxoxxxxc at Notre Dame Collegiate in High River on Monday night. The Drillers have a 2-2 record in the FAC.
Oilfields will play in the Foremost basketball tournament this weekend, where they are the defending champions.
The Knights kept their FAC record perfect at 5-0 by beating the Strathmore Spartans xxxxxxxx on Monday at HTA.
The Knights will visit the Foothills Falcons in a game between cross-town rivals Friday. Tip-off at Foothills Comp is approximately 7:15 p.m. immediately following the girls’ game.
