In round-robin play, the Whitehorse F.H. Collins Warriors whipped the Whitehorse Porter Creek Rams 82-55. “We lost last week to these guys in the Super Hoops final by two,” said Warriors Jeff Cressman told the Whitehorse Star. “So for us it was a nice win. A little bit of pay back for that because that’s the first time they had beat us all year and now we are in the final against Vanier (tonight), so we will see what happens.” Porter Creek led 12-4 and extended their margin to 17-10 before the Warriors responded with a 6-0 run on a pair of buckets by Tony Nguyen. They knotted the score at 20 and romped, leading 67-43 after three quarters. Tony Nguyen led the Warriors with 30. Porter Creek coach Logan Wedge said “they played well, but we also made a lot of mistakes that kind of hurt us. “They are too good of a team, you can’t beat F.H. and turn the ball over 30 times and that’s what we did. We played the same defence as last week, we had the same starters, we had the same offensive formations and it took us everything we could to beat those guys last week. We played almost a perfect game and today it just didn’t happen.” Cressman said Nguyen “stepped up and decided they weren’t going to beat us, I think. The other guys were getting him the ball and boxing out. It was a team effort to get the ball to him and you can’t win all by yourself.” Nguyen said “I have been working pretty hard throughout the year, so I didn’t want to end it on a loss like that, especially losing to them in Super Hoops,” he said. “That feeling really sticks with me and I didn’t want to feel that again.” …………………………………………………… Final round robin standings: Whitehorse F.H. Collins (2-0); Whitehorse Vanier (1-1); Whitehorse Porter Creek (0-2)
In the final, the F.H. Collins Warriors edged the Whitehorse Vanier Catholic Secondary Crusaders 79-75. “This is probably the best feeling,” Warriors point guard Tony Nguyen, who scored 41, told the Yukon News. “All of the time we put in as a team was for this moment and we achieved it. It feels great.” The Warriors built an early 11-3 lead and extended the margin to 24-13 after one quarter. The teams staged a three-point shooting in the second quarter as the Warriors moved ahead 33-18 before Vanier responded with an 11-2 run capped by Logan Grey trey. The Crusaders to within two at the half and then knotted the score at 45 on a pair of free throws to start the third quarter. The team repeatedly traded the lead until the Warriors took a late 63-59 lead at the end of the frame on a 6-2 run ignited by a Nguyen trey. Vanier closed no closer than three in the final frame. Nguyen said the Warriors were determined to win for former coach Jamie Shaw, who was being treated for leukemia in Vancouver. “He’s been there for all of us in every single way, he has changed our lives,” Nguyen said. “This game was totally dedicated for him and we pulled it out so it feels great. … I knew they were going to fight hard. They have a great coach, they have strong players, so I knew that they were going to be there.” Warriors coach Jeff Cressman said “we had a bunch of guys in foul trouble, so we had a bunch of guys who don’t play a lot playing quite a bit. I wasn’t too worried because I knew I was going to put my other guys back on at some point.” Crusaders coach Sean McCarron said “we’ve had trouble starting a lot of games this year. I don’t know if it’s Grade 11 jitters, but we do start games slowly. Next year this entire team is returning. … I’m sure next year they won’t be making some of those mistakes. … All I have ever asked these guys to do was to come out and work their butt off and not fold under pressure and tonight they didn’t fold. After going down early, we very well could have tanked and this could have been a 30 point blowout because F.H. is so explosive. My guys fought back, every single one of them.” Logan Grey led the Crusaders with 28. “He’s been a big part of our team all year,” said McCarron. “He’s got a lot of heart and this is his second year playing senior, so he’ll be back next year and I think he’ll be tough to stop. Next year I hope we’ll be cutting down the net.”
The bronze medalist Whitehorse Porter Creek Rams: Dakota Organ; coach Logan Wedge
The silver medalist Whitehorse Vanier Catholic Secondary Crusaders: Logan Grey; Gavin Clark; coach Sean McCarron
The champion F.H. Collins Warriors: Tony Nguyen; Dylan Salvisberg; coach Jeff Cressman