The Paul Kane Blues are in the driver’s seat with the finish line only three wins away from a championship season.
Paul Kane put the pedal to the metal to accelerate past the St. Albert Skyhawks 68-55 for its 11th league win without a loss before the playoffs tip off Monday in metro Edmonton division two men’s basketball.
“That was definitely our goal after what we did last year,” said Grade 11 forward Owen Cooke of the team’s disappointing 3-8 campaign. “It wasn’t as good as we had hoped so this year we decided we wanted to go into the playoffs undefeated and we put in the work in every practice to do that.
“It’s exciting and I can’t wait for the playoffs.”
Pressure is also mounting to go the distance as Paul Kane, 19-2 overall, races towards its first senior men’s metro banner since 2012 in the premier conference.
“We feel it a little but we get home court advantage (before the final) so that’s definitely a big help,” Cooke said. “We’re just all eager to go for the chips.”
Paul Kane hosts the Millwoods Christian Royals (3-8) in Monday’s quarter-final at 6:30 p.m.
The second league win for Paul Kane was 79-53 against the Royals in St. Albert.
The semifinals are Wednesday and the final is 8 p.m. Friday at Ross Sheppard.
The seventh-place Skyhawks (4-7) have their fingers crossed the rematch with Paul Kane will be next week instead of next season.
“Hopefully we’ll see them in the playoffs sometime and give them a little more of a run for their money,” said Kyle Torok-Both, a Grade 12 guard who scored a team-high 13 points against Paul Kane.
“This was a good game for us. It bonded us a lot,” Torok-Both said. “PK is a really good team. They know how to play really good basketball and we really gave them a really good fight.”
Monday’s playoff opponent for the Skyhawks is the Spruce Grove Panthers (9-2) on the road at 5:30 p.m.
Last week the Skyhawks dropped a 78-57 decision to the defending champions in Spruce Grove.
“We’ve got to focus up for playoffs and make sure we’ve got the right mindset,” Torok-Both said.
The Skyhawks, unranked in 3A with three metro Edmonton teams in the top 10, will compete in the zone elimination tournament for provincial qualification after the playoffs.
“We’ve just got to keep working and keep getting better every day as we play the rest of these games in the season,” Torok-Both said.
The Skyhawks flashed their potential against the team to beat in the playoffs.
“We played with a lot more energy and a lot more hustle. We were going on the ground for those loose balls and getting those 50/50 balls. We were getting back on defence. We’ve been inconsistent with all of that and tonight we were more consistent with our efforts on defence and toughness,” said Torok-Both, who tossed in 10 points in the first half.
The Skyhawks struggled mightily in the first half putting the ball through the hoop while falling behind 19-8 at the end of the first quarter and 37-21 at halftime.
The outcome was decided in the third quarter as Paul Kane piled up 27 points compared to 10 for the Skyhawks for a sizable 64-31 advantage.
Jack MacPherson clipped the Skyhawks for 10 of his 18 points in the 10-minute frame. The Big M also pulled off a four-point play while fouled sinking a three-ball and the free throw made it 54-26 with 4:09 left until quarter time.
Colin Martin also dialed up two three-points for a 10-point night and Aidan Kelly added nine.
“We played a good game against our rivals. It was fun,” said Cooke, who potted seven points in the opening 10 minutes. “The first half we came out with a lot of energy and then kind of fell off but we brought it back in the second half and kind of pulled our team together.
“There were some rough calls and at some points it was hard to keep the momentum going.”
A strange fourth quarter that included the new and expensive scoreboard as part of the St. Albert Catholic High School renovations conking out with around five minutes to go saw the Skyhawks outscoring Paul Kane by a surprising margin of 24-4.
Eight players made their shots count as the Skyhawks rattled off runs of 12 and 10 points. Vince Laurel and Daniel Nunez provided five apiece and both hit three-pointers.
Laurel and Luke Brodeur finished with nine points each.
“If we can get up and down the floor and get some easy buckets that’s our game. We’re a lot shorter than a lot of other teams so it’s tempo, tempo, tempo and play good defence and hustle and make sure they can’t get any easy buckets,” said Torok-Both, 17, who was outstanding filling in at quarterback in his senior season with the Skyhawks, the 2018 Miles conference and Tier III provincial north finalists.
The loss to Paul Kane prevented a Battle of Alberta sweep for the Skyhawks after beating the Bellerose Bulldogs (3-8), last year’s division two finalists, 75-67 in the Dec. 10 season opener.
Paul Kane also muzzled the Bulldogs 80-60 this month, en route to sweeping the St. Albert showdown series after losses of 85-76 to Bellerose and 61-44 to the Skyhawks during one of the few non-playoff seasons in the history of Paul Kane senior men’s basketball.
As for the startling turnaround, “Our team chemistry is amazing. All the guys love playing with each other and we love spending time with each other,” said Cooke, one of five returnees on the roster. “Teamwork really translates well into a game like basketball where there is so much emphasis on teamwork.”
A potential perfect season ended after 17 wins two weekends ago in Calgary with losses of 75-61 to the host Western Canada Redhawks, ranked sixth in 4A (“We played Western in front of their whole school so it was a crazy atmosphere,” Cooke said) and 82-71 to the No. 7 4A St. Mary’s Saints.
“We knew it was going to be tough going into Calgary. We would’ve loved to win, but we played really well against top-tiered teams and if we kept our heads a bit more, we probably could’ve came out with the win so I feel happy with what we did. It’s a very different game down there. They play big ball down there. It’s really tough and lots of less calls than we got up here,” said Cooke, 16, a reliable starter with size who missed four games and two tournament triumphs early in the season with a wonky ankle.
