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Blues stopped short by Trojans

Third loss of the season for the Paul Kane Blues and the first in league play was the metro Edmonton division two men's basketball final against the Holy Trinity Trojans

Ross Sheppard – The Holy Trinity Trojans rained on Paul Kane’s parade.

Friday’s championship coronation for the basketball Blues turned into a wake in the aftermath of the stunning 71-69 loss in the metro Edmonton division two men’s final.

“It really sucks to have it end it this way,” said a teary-eyed Jack MacPherson while the rest of the Blues consoled themselves in a hallway drenched with emotion following the team's third loss in 24 games.

“We had an absolutely amazing season and it’s still an amazing season, but in the end we just couldn't pull through,” said MacPherson of the Blues finishing one win short of the first metro banner in senior men’s basketball since 2012 in the premier conference. “We made it to the city finals and got a silver medal but obviously this is not the result we wanted.”

The Blues were 13-0 in league play, including the tightly-fought 78-71 affair against the Trojans (12-2) Jan. 7 at Paul Kane, before the championship contenders were stopped in their tracks.

“We scouted them. We knew what we had to do going into the game and we executed. We did what we needed to do. We shut down number seven, Jack, and that was that and we got the W,” said Abu Jah of the Trojans.

MacPherson led the Blues in scoring with 19 points and was responsible for eight of the team’s 14 points in the decisive fourth quarter.

A pair of free throws by the Grade 12 all-star made it 64-60 with 5:12 to play and the Trojans responded with seven consecutive points before Paul Kane head coach Evan Eger called a time out with 2:11 remaining and the Blues down 67-64.

When play resumed, Aidan Kelly’s three-point attempt was tipped away and then Justin Maralit’s second three-pointer of the quarter and the fourth of the final put the Trojans ahead by six with 1:46 on the clock.

Maralit had earlier pushed the Trojans past the Blues for good with his third three-pointer for the 65-64 lead.

“Justin brought momentum to the team. Everyone got hyped after those two and everything came our way,” Jah said.

A sense of urgency surrounded the Blues as MacPherson potted a pair of free throws and Colin Martin added another to cut the deficit to three points with one minute to go.

Frenzied action ensued inside the amped-up Ross Sheppard gymnasium as the seconds ticked down. MacPherson was unsuccessful on a difficult layup, Owen Cooke of the Blues caused a turnover on defence and an incomplete pass by MacPherson throwing to his right with Kelly streaking down the sideline led to a Paul Kane time out with 23 seconds left.

The Trojans would go on to miss two free throws by Jah while Martin hit two to make it a one-point contest as the Trojans called a time out.

After two misses from the free throw line by the Trojans, Kelly was stopped driving the line for the winning basket. The Blues then fouled and Maralit deposited his 15th point with seven seconds remaining to close it out.

“They just handled the pressure better than we did and we just had those mental mistakes at the end that really cost us,” MacPherson said. “That one turnover in the last minute really hurt us and we just couldn't capitalize in the end when they were missing free throws.

“The pressure was mounting and we knew it was going to be intense but we’ve got to find a way to play through that and tonight we couldn’t do that.”

Credit the Trojans for rising to the challenge against the first-place Blues.

“They played an amazing game,” MacPherson said. “We got rebounded heavily offensively. We could not box out and they got a lot of second chance points.”

Period scores were 14-10, 35-31 and 55-33 for Paul Kane as the Trojans kept within striking distance of the front-runners.

“We were down the whole game but we kept pushing, we kept doing our thing and we came out with the W from hard work only. Our motto is hard work all day all day and we did that. We worked so hard for this all season and all those suicides and it all paid off. We got the W and got the championship,” said Jah, a 17-year-old Grade 12 floor general who potted 15 points.

Kelly finished with 15 points with four of his five three-points deposited in the first half. His last three-pointer 2:47 into the third quarter gave the Blues a seven-point cushion at 42-35.

Roka Phalen-Baker’s 15 points included three three-pointers and Cooke added seven points.

Jhimuel Vergado’s lone basket of the final was a pretty big three-pointer that kept the Blues in front at 60-56 with 2:39 gone in the fourth quarter.

Despite the disappointing outcome, the Blues showed dramatic improvement from last year’s 3-8 non-playoff showing.

“We put Paul Kane back on the map,” said MacPherson, who broke a 55-all tie with a great low post move and his layup with 5:44 to play expanded the lead to 62-58.

The final marked the last high school game for MacPherson, Kelly and Martin, the team’s co-captains, as well as Ethan Wedman and Carter Bragg.

“The rest of these guys have a really good future ahead of them. They're going to have some great one or two years and the team will be awesome. PK basketball has a bright future,” said MacPherson, 17, who has committed to the Alberta Golden Bears. “It’s just sad to see it end. This loss hurts more than any other loss I've had in my basketball career or my sports career so it's probably the worst.

“But this has been probably the best years of my life. It's been amazing. These guys are like a second family and I'm really going to miss them but even though it’s a really bad way to go out, it's still been a great three years here.”

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