Wins over the Weyburn Eagles have been hard to come by in recent years for Estevan Comprehensive School's senior basketball teams.
So when the boys did it, in the final of the Energy City Basketball Invitational no less, it was cause for celebration.
The senior boys won their home tournament on Saturday with a resounding 70-54 victory over their longtime rivals.
Carter Kuchinka led the way for the Elecs with 21 points in the final, including five three-pointers. Wyatt Haux had 16 points.
"We told our players that (Kuchinka) is our go-to guy. When he's open, he has to get the ball," said Elecs assistant coach Alex Coop.
"That was stressed before and during the game. The guys did a great job of finding him and he did a great job of knocking shots down. We'd like to see him do a bit more work inside, posting up and being more of a bruiser down low, but he certainly did what he's really good at that game."
The Elecs took control of the championship game from the start, leading 18-13 after the first quarter, 41-24 at the half and 57-43 after three quarters.
"For several weeks leading up to this tournament, offence was emphasized quite a bit and luckily we had a full unit, a full team at the tournament this weekend. Those two things combined, I think, were the biggest contributing factors for us beating Weyburn, who are a very disciplined team," said Coop.
"The players no doubt stepped up big time. There was a noticeable difference in body language and effort level from about a month ago to now."
The Elecs have led the Eagles in games before, but this time they held on for the win, and Coop said that is a major confidence booster.
"It showed the guys we're capable of closing out of a game, which may have been one of the things the coaches worried about the most — not making sure we can get a lead against Weyburn, which we have done before, but making sure we can finish the game strong, which we did."
The Elecs started the tournament on Friday night with a high-scoring 78-74 win over the Balgonie Griffins. Matt Haux led the Elecs with 24 points, while Mitchell Clark scored 16.
"We scored almost 80 points that game. It was obvious that scoring wasn't a problem. It was just closing the game out, which was something we were a little concerned about going into the second and third game," said Coop, noting that three times the Elecs had a sizeable lead and let the Griffins back in the game.
"I attribute that to jitters and a little bit of nervousness in front of a big crowd."
In the semifinals on Saturday afternoon, the Elecs hammered Lumsden 76-39. Matt Haux was the team's top scorer with 21 points. The Elecs led 42-20 at halftime.
Coop said a major reason for the team's success was that each player accepted his role.
"Everyone embraced their role and followed through with that role perfectly. Donny (Mortenson) coming off the bench, just high-intensity hustle plays, he was making those on a consistent basis. Kolby Dyck was probably the most consistent player that weekend in terms of fulfilling his role. He knows he's not an offensive player, but he did his job down low. Everyone stood out."
With both ECS senior teams having beaten Weyburn this year, the McLeod Series may be more even than in the past.
"I think this is a team that is confident, has the body language and the team camaraderie. It's all there. It's a very well-oiled engine right now. Everyone has their roles, everyone is contributing at a high level and we think they can win. I totally think we can win the McLeod Series," Coop said.
