The Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs needed extra time to capture their third straight McLeod Series championship.
The Elecs senior boys basketball team beat the Weyburn Comprehensive School (WCS) Eagles 11-7 in overtime at ECS last Wednesday night to help the school claim the 82nd annual McLeod Series. The Eagles senior boys forced the extra frame by draining two long threes, courtesy of Spencer Anderson and Earl Pineda, in the final eight seconds of the game to give them a 76-68 victory.
The eight-point WCS win tied the four-game total-point series between the Eagles and Elecs senior boys and girls squads at two wins and 276 points each.
“We just came back like it was 0-0,” said Elecs forward Jack McGeough on their mindset heading into the fifth quarter. “It’s a whole new game. We got five minutes to play. Let’s work hard for the five minutes.”
Elecs forward Carter Davenport got his side on the board first in OT by notching two foul shots only to have Pineda reply shortly with a drive to the basket and layup. Wyatt Haux then put ECS up 5-2 on a three down the middle before McGeough hit two foul shots to give the Elecs a five-point lead.
Pineda made it 7-4 with a jumper in the paint only to have McGeough restore the advantage by hauling down an offensive rebound and score on the second chance. Tristan Sharp got the deficit to four on a foul shot before hitting a reverse layup to put his squad within two with 13 seconds left. An Eagles turnover on their next possession gave the Elecs the ball forcing WCS to foul, which allowed Haux to put the extra-time match out of reach at 11-7.
“We just played harder and bigger down low getting the rebounds,” said McGeough. “The key to the end was everybody was making their shots and nobody was getting angry and fouling. We just kept our cool and made the plays.”
The Eagles held the advantage throughout regulation time putting up a 21-18 score after the first quarter and a 35-33 lead at the half. Knowing the club needed eight points to tie, WCS came out strong in the third period holding a nine-point advantage at one point before the Elecs battled back to within four at 51-47 heading into the final frame.
Both teams went back and forth to the thunderous cheers of a packed gym at ECS that had fans pouring out of the stands and lining the sides of the court with the two late threes by Weyburn providing perhaps the loudest moment for an away throng of supporters and the quietest for the home side.
Eagles post Rylie Mainil said the two late threes pumped up the bench, but their execution in overtime was off. He said both teams gave a full effort and unfortunately it just didn’t work out in their favour.
“Everyone was tired in this overtime,” said Mainil. “They just wanted it more than we did I guess.”
The Elecs senior girls began the second and final round of the McLeod Series by beating the Eagles 68-54. Estevan came out strong holding a 13-3 lead at one point before Weyburn found their game and fought back to make the score 15-13 a little over halfway through the first quarter. Elecs guard Tatiana Dutka then hit two foul shots to give Estevan a 17-13 advantage before forward Kourtney Kobitz drained a three from near the sideline to put the score at 20-13.
Dutka finished off the quarter with an offensive rebound and layup giving ECS a 24-14 lead heading into the second stanza where everything seemed to fall Estevan’s way. The Elecs rode into halftime with a 40-24 lead, which they increased to 56-39 after three quarters. The Eagles fought hard in the fourth quarter, but the deficit proved too tough to overcome.
“Our shots weren’t dropping as much and we weren’t playing as good as we could,” said Eagles guard Tiarrah Umbach. “I don’t think we were really boxing out. We were just letting them in.”
The regulation time wins between the teams is the opposite of what happened on Feb. 8 at WCS where the Eagles senior girls beat their counterparts 71-61 and the Elecs senior boys bested their Highway 39 rivals 79-75. The McLeod Series now stands at 43-39 in the Eagles favour.
“It is awesome,” said Kobitz, who celebrated her third McLeod Series championship in four years with the Elecs. “We’re going to use it toward playing as a team moving forward and to hopefully go to provincials this year.”
