It is playoff time for the Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs senior boys basketball team.
The Elecs begin post-season action this Friday and Saturday at Yorkton Regional High School with the Saskatchewan High School Athletic Association 5A Regional Basketball Championship Tournament. Two teams out of the eight competing at regionals will earn a spot at Hoopla, which is being played in Moose Jaw the weekend of March 18.
Elecs coach Dustin Wilson said the team is feeling confident heading into regionals after winning the Ned Andreoni Memorial Senior Boys Basketball Tournament at Moose Jaw's Vanier Collegiate Institue Feb. 28, where the team capped off an unbeaten run in the tournament with a 68-66 win over the Weyburn Comprehensive School (WCS) Eagles in the final. He said the Elecs then engaged in a productive practice schedule during their off-weekend March 5 and 6 to make sure they have no rust in Yorkton.
“We just worked on things to help each other’s team,” said Wilson, about their exhibition matches at WCS against the Eagles and Notre Dame Hounds. “They helped us on things that we struggle with and we turned our defence into things they wanted to work on.”
The Elecs will battle teams from Prince Albert St. Mary, Balgonie, Swift Current, Moose Jaw Peacock, Yorkton Regional, North Battleford Comprehensive and Prince Albert Carleton at regionals.
Wilson said they normally don’t match up against some of these teams, but they have seen them in various tournaments during the season and Prince Albert St. Mary appears to be the team to beat heading in. He said they’ll have to go unbeaten until at least the finals at regionals to earn a spot at Hoopla and the hope is the big win at the Ned Andreoni Memorial along with the exhibition games will help them do just that.
“We’ve had some really good games this year and there have also been some ugly ones, so we’re just trying to eliminate some of those mistakes,” he said. “The mental side and the attitude side is a big thing we’re trying to really focus on heading into the weekend because that has been a bit of a problem in the past.”
