NAIT Gym – The Paul Kane Blues won the right to play the team to beat at the 4A provincial men's basketball championship after their successful tournament opener Thursday.
Tyler Wise buried 45 points and captain Connor Bradley added 17 as the Blues thumped the LCI Rams of Lethbridge 91-78.
"It's a huge win for us. It's big for our confidence going into the second round," Wise told the Gazette after the team's impressive performance. "We have a big game [Friday] and we have to be mentally prepared for that and come out firing on all cylinders."
In the championship side of the 16-team bracket, the Blues challenged the Raymond Comets for a semifinal berth. Friday's score was unavailable at press time.
"We're really excited to play Raymond," Wise said. "They're the number-one seed but that's not really in our heads right now. It's us against them and we're just going to go out and work our butts off and try and bring home a victory."
The odds were stacked against the Blues as massive underdogs against the powerhouse Comets, undefeated in league play and winners of three tournaments. They also captured the provincial crown two years ago.
"Obviously it's a little intimidating to play them. They're a really good team but we're a really good team, too, so it will be a good game," Bradley said. "They're beatable and we can beat them. We've got to believe that because if we don't we're going to go in and lose that game."
Win or lose, the Blues were scheduled to play another game Friday. A loss to Raymond would drop them into the mini-playoff bracket to determine seventh and eighth place. The seventh-place match tips-off today at 2 p.m. at Edmonton Christian School.
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The 29th win in 40 games for the metro Edmonton premier champions brought out the very best in Wise. Six three-balls and 45 points were season highs for the skinny six-foot-five Grade 11 forward.
"Tyler really stepped up. I've never seen him hit so many shots. He looked confident. He looked like he had his swagger out there. He was the man," Bradley said.
Wise didn't miss a shot in the first half while dropping four three-balls and 23 points on the beleaguered Rams. His 18 points in the first quarter included three three-balls.
"I just did what I could to help our team win," said the humble-looking Wise.
The Blues never looked back after a three-ball by Wise opened the scoring. They led 30-25 after the first quarter, 55-34 at halftime and 70-63 after three quarters.
"There were a lot of haters out there saying that this team was going to beat us but we didn't listen to that. We knew we could beat this team. They're really strong but we came out flying and we came out shooting," Bradley said.
In the third quarter, after a couple of slick low post moves by Wise for buckets, the Rams out-scored the Blues 17-7 to trail by seven entering the last period. After the Rams pulled to within one, Wise's fifth three-ball from the corner pocket in front of the Paul Kane bench with 7:48 to play was followed seconds later by a three-ball by Bradley from almost the exact spot to make it 78-69. The back-to-back threes brought fans out of their seats in a gym filled by Paul Kane students.
Wise, 16, would later drain two free clutch throws with 6:17 remaining to extend the lead to 80-74. Less than a minute later, he unleashed a turnaround jumper in double coverage from outside the paint. His scoring spree continued with a three-ball with 5:35 on the clock to put the Blues on top by 11. After pulling the trigger, he raised his fist in celebration while the Blues whooped it up from the bench.
"We knew that as a unit if we worked together we could win the game," said the game star. "When things got close, the coach [Rick Stanley] called a time out here and there and that's when we came together."
Post player Adam Sturgess and flashy guard Khalil Bertin also contributed to the win.
Clay Gibb led the Rams in points with 20 and six-foot-seven Colten Murray tacked up 17.
In previous meetings, the Blues rattled the Rams by 14 at the Western Canada Redmen tournament in Calgary and lost by about 20 at the Scona tournament.
"We had plans for that big man inside and that really good shooter they have. We stick our best defender on them and we tried to really bang with that big guy down low," said Bradley, a Grade 12 guard and third-year varsity player.
The Blues are seeded eighth and the Rams are ninth at provincials.
In the Edmonton zone playdowns, the Blues placed third after losses of 90-68 to the public league champion Harry Ainlay Titans, the number-two seed at provincials, and 87-72 to the fifth-seeded Jasper Place Rebels.
"Those were both tough games but that's what helped us prepare for this game. Playing some upper-echelon teams kind of set the tone for us coming into the tournament," Wise said.
