By Jason Pike
St Mary’s, NL – The annual Dunne Memorial Basketball Tournament opened last weekend in St Mary’s Newfoundland playing host to five teams. Dunne Memorial Academy, Christ The King Rushoon, Baltimore High School, St Kevin’s High and St Joseph’s Academy in Lameline. The opening contest proved to be one for the ages as the Dunne Memorial Academy Vikings took on the St Joseph’s Academy Jaguars from Lamaline on the Burin peninsula.
It was a hard-fought battle, literally back and forth the entire game, never within more than eight points in either direction.
With Lamaline in the Lead in the dying seconds of the game a Dunne Memorial player hit an unlikely basket tying it up and sending the game into overtime, but at the end of the game it was the hometown boys that pulled out the win 65 to 62 in a battle that could have went in either direction.
Game 2
Game 2 saw St Kevin’s Mavericks versus the Baltimore Broncos which I feel was one of the messiest games I’ve watched in a while. At the end of the game St Kevin’s ended up winning by 10 but from Baltimore’s end of things it was like playing carnival games at Thomas Amusements. There were more missed easy shots then a game of ring toss. I don’t know if it was just a team shaking off the rust from the Christmas break or what but it was very difficult to watch.
Game 3
Once again featured the home town Dunne Memorial Academy Vikings taking on Christ The King Academy Crusaders. At the end of play Dunne Memorial took the win easily with a 20 plus point deficit but there was something interesting to watch about this Christ The King Academy team.
They hung in there very well for one quarter and the rest was all Dunne Memorial from the middle of the second quarter on. But I don’t feel that it was reflective of the abilities of this Christ the King Academy team. What I can say is that there were a lot of diamonds in the rough in this game.
The Crusaders showcased several big dominant players and also several players that had great basketball IQ.
So you might ask that if this is the case why aren’t they winning games or hanging in there longer than they did? From my perspective and what I witnessed throughout this tournament from this team is that their biggest downfall is their fitness.
They were a big dominant team in the first quarter but come halfway into the second quarter they were gassed and winded. From that point on every opposing player realized that all they had to do was run the ball quickly and they would easily take control of the game.
But if this Crussaders team and this coach and these players were to apply themselves and lock in I could see very great things from a lot of the players on this team in the future.
Game four
This was the final game of the Friday session which featured the St Joseph’s Jaguars of Lamaline coming out flying in fine fashion against the St Kevin’s Mavericks dominating them on the boards and the defensive end as well. At the end of the match the Saint Kevin’s Mavericks fell hard to the Jaguars in a 26-point losing end for the Mavs.
The Saturday session of the tournament proved to be much the same as the day prior competition wise. Starting off today with the Baltimore Broncos taking on the Christ The King Crusaders and once again it was a carbon copy of the night before for the Crusaders as they held their own for one quarter against the Broncos and then literally got trampled on for the rest of the game.
I’m not sure how self-aware this team is at this stage but I really hope that it comes to a point that they’re able to unlock their true ability and put in the work to get themselves in the game shape that they need to be. But at the end of the day the Broncos stampeded all over the Crusaders to take the win.
Game two of the Saturday session came with, once again, the hometown Dunne Memorial Academy Vikings taking on the Saint Kevin’s Mavericks. But no amount of Hometown cheering and commotion could save the hometown boys from being handled decisively by the Mavericks. The atmosphere in the gym when the hometown boys play is nothing less than electric. But even with that atmosphere there was just not enough on the Vikings side to pull off a victory as the Mavericks handed them a 20-point loss putting them in a very precarious position when it came to any playoff or championship hopes.
Next up was the Baltimore Broncos taking on the St Joseph’s Jaguars of Lamaline. This game was back and forth for the entire contest. But St Joseph’s weren’t having much luck on the rim. More in and out balls than I’ve seen in a very long time. The unmaintained rims in the Dunne Memorial gymnasium proved to be the bane of their existence. And this had become true for multiple teams in this tournament.
The spring loaded system in these hoops have been long since needing replacement for years now and every time the ball would hit the rim it was like it died there and either fell in or out of the rim with little to no bounce. For the Jaguars, in this situation, it fell out. Mind you the Broncos had similar situations but if I were to count how many times this happened it definitely favoured the Broncos.
But when it came down to brass tacks it was a nail biter right to the very end with a blocked shot by the Broncos on the St Joseph Jaguars Hunter Walsh as the Broncos took the game by one point effectively eliminating the Jaguars from playoff contention.
The next game was not technically a playoff game but it was a loser goes home situation and the winner goes on to the championship.
At this point in the tournament seeing St Kevin’s Mavericks had already secured their spot in the championship even after a tough 26 point loss to the now eliminated St Joseph’s Jaguars.
If this tournament proved anything its that nothing is guaranteed in any game because they went every which way it could for all teams in this tournament.
With a jam-packed gymnasium in a once again electric atmosphere from the hometown crowd the Dunne Memorial Academy Vikings took on the Baltimore Broncos in what was hoped would be a fairly competitive game but it was not to be. In the end it proved to be nothing of the sort has the Broncos walked all over the hometown boys in fine fashion eliminating them from their host tournament and securing themselves a spot in the championship game against St Kevin’s Mavericks who they had already played and lost to in the round robin.
Finals
The final game of the round robin to round things out was really more a game for bragging rights than anything else and it boasted two teams from the Burin Peninsula who have been trying to make their way back into the basketball scene in Newfoundland this year.
St Joseph’s Jaguars took on the Christ The King Crusaders in what was truly a lopsided match as the Jaguars played only their bench players against the Christ the King Crusaders who are a budding team with a load of potential for such a small school.
The Jaguars came out flying and even with their bench players they were on point and seem to have a lot of fun with this one and locked it in with a 30-point victory in the end.
And this brings us up to the championship game which was a rematch of the round robin game between the Baltimore Broncos and the St Kevin’s Mavericks.
St Kevin’s came out dominant and forceful keeping their foot on the gas and at one point had a 20-point lead. I don’t know if it was cockiness or bad luck or if the Baltimore Broncos just woke up but towards the end of the first half the Broncos started to chip away and take advantage of every little mistake made by the Mavericks.
The Bronocos came out flying in the second half of the game applying pressure in all the right places and forcing their way back into the game. At the end of the day though the Mavericks came up victorious but that 20 lead that they had once held in the game was diminished to merely a two-point victory in the championship final.
St. Kevins Mavericks emerged as the eventual champions of this tournament.
In a couple weeks we are going to see a lot of these similar rematches as the Baltimore Broncos plays host to several of these same teams so it should have the makings of some great games as the season progresses.
