The Varsity Boys basketball team from Niverville Collegiate represented at the AA basketball Provincials this year and walked away as champions. The team had gone undefeated in their regular season before qualifying for Provincials, which took place March 14–16 in Warren.
Leading up to the tournament, the Panthers hadn’t held a full team practice, as most of the team was away for a band trip, so their opening game against Green Valley proved to be one of the more challenging games of the tournament.
“Both teams played with great intensity and it was a back and forth game that was only decided towards the end of the fourth quarter,” coach Richard Toews said. “It wasn’t our best shooting game and we had moments where individuals forgot about the importance of the next play being the most important one and dwelling on the previous one. However, as a team, they encouraged and redirected one another.”
The Panthers ended up winning the qualifiers with a final score of 61–53, before moving on to take out McGregor in the next round by a whopping 93–39.
“We played with excellent ball movement and effort our first game against MacGregor,” says Toews. “As you progress through any tournament, you will end up playing teams that will be around your team’s level of ability… We tried not change our style of play as our overall game plan remained the same each game, regardless of who we played. We just had different points of emphasis and strategy depending on the opponent’s strengths. We tried to do our best each and every play.”
Niverville and Frontier were matched in the semi-finals in a back-and-forth game, ending with Niverville victorious by a small margin of 67–60.
A couple of players from NCI were recognized during the tournament for exceptional play, namely Kress Schmidt (Player’s Choice, Tournament All-Star, and Player of the Game), Joel Dueck (Most Valuable Player), Dilan Braun (Player of the Game), and Nathan Rempel (Player of the Game).
Toews says that Kress and Joel, specifically, worked as a team throughout the tournament, as well as the season, in what some may say is the NCI equivalent of Stockton and Malone. According to the coach, the duo has a complementary skillset, with Kress having the ability to impose himself with solid post moves and tenacious rebounding, and Joel serving as the team’s first line of defence, leading to fast-break layups.
Kress suffered a minor injury during the final game, rolling his ankle in the first quarter and having it taped up before going back to the court to finish out.
“The most satisfying thing to watch is when they work together,” Toews explains. “A play seen throughout the season is when Joel drives to the hoop drawing in the defence and then lays off a short bounce pass to Kress, who has perfectly positioned himself to get open close to the hoop and is able to lay it in.”
The Carman Cougars, who play in Zone 4, went head to head with the Panthers in the championship game. NCI had played Carmen only once, during the Nighthawk Invitational, where Carmen defeated Niverville in a tight game.
Niverville went on to defeat the Cougars by a score of 69–56 to win the championship.
“[It was] deep satisfaction and contentment knowing that each member of the team contributed to the team playing its best,” says Toews of the win. “The team accomplished success because we played near our very best possible and overcame adversity… We were very content knowing that throughout the season we worked and improved in order put ourselves in a position to experience the success of playing our best.”
