Dakota ends Massey streak, wins BSSI

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This article was published 18/12/2023 (745 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dean Favoni wasn’t about to let another Brandon Sun Spartan Invitational slip away.

His Dakota Lancers got over the hump on Saturday morning, upsetting the five-time defending champion Vincent Massey Trojans 68-66 in the semifinals. But suddenly, the coach found his team down 13 to a much smaller Daniel McIntyre Maroons team.

The Lancers clawed back before halftime and blew the Maroons away in the third to win the Victoria Inn Division final 98-79 at Neelin on Saturday.

“Feels great to win. Daniel Mac I thought played a really strong game. They came out with lots of speed that we didn’t match very well early on. They were making lots of shots early on and we weren’t doing a great job of contesting them,” Favoni said.

“But we made a couple of adjustments at halftime and started to assert ourselves a little more inside the key and just played better team defence.

“That’s basketball 101, if we’re not playing good defence, it doesn’t matter how many we’re going to score. Eventually, it’s going to come down to making stops. I’m proud of this group. it’s their first win here and I’m so happy for them to experience this.”

Dakota started strong as tournament MVP Kismayo de Michael scored nine of its first 14 points but the speedy Maroons clamped down on him while creating chaos all over the floor defensively. They outran the Lancers and hit nearly every shot they looked to go up big. De Michael scored a quick seven points to hit 22 at the break and cut the deficit to 49-43.

“Kizzy is special. He scores the ball extremely well, he’s a thrill to be around all the time,” Favoni said.

Point guard Blake Penner, who led Dakota’s football team to a Winnipeg High School Football League title last month, orchestrated a much better offence after the break. The Lancers pounded the ball inside with Connor Grandbois, who spent most of the first half on the bench due to foul trouble.

Grandbois gave Dakota its first lead since the first quarter midway through the third and they completely dominated after that.

The Lancers won the quarter by 23 and salted the game away with methodical possessions throughout the fourth.

It was a big win for Favoni, who had taken the Lancers to too many final fours to count since their lone BSSI win in 2009. De Michael remembers the last one from his junior year.

“Last year we came into this tournament thinking we’d be a high-priority team,” de Michael said.

“We played Massey in finals and it didn’t come out the way we wanted to so coming into this year’s tournament, we played Massey in semifinals and really dialled in.”

The senior guard made sure his team didn’t treat that as the final.

“I led the way and told my teammates ‘The job’s not done, we have work to do,’” he said.

“Yes we beat Massey … but we cannot let that get to our heads and just say ‘We’re going to win in finals now because we beat Massey.’

“(Daniel Mac is a) very physical team and it’s pretty rough because we’re obviously a bigger team but they’re physical, they box out, they’re a fast team and we’re not used to that but we adjusted to it and it came out the way we wanted to.”

The Trojans beat the Maples Marauders — who fell 91-87 to the Maroons in the semifinals — 85-57 to claim third place.

The Vincent Massey Vikings bounced back from a 74-58 loss to Regina’s O’Neill Titans to beat Winkler’s Garden Valley Zodiacs 71-45 for seventh.

The Crocus Plainsmen lost the 11th-place game 105-59 to Yorkton.

While COVID-19 and highway conditions have impacted the past few years, for the first time since 2018, all 80 BSSI games were played.

“We’ve been here 18 of the 20 years and I want to say Don Thomson runs an outstanding tournament,” Favoni said.

“We’ve been friends for way longer than 18 years and it’s a pleasure to come out here and visit and spend time out here in Brandon.”

SJR CLAIMS SOURCE

FOR SPORTS DIVISION

In the Source for Sports (Tier 2) Division, MVP James Lawton led the St. John’s Ravenscourt Eagles to a perfect start and a comfortable 81-52 win over the defending champion Selkirk Royals.

“That was really fun,” Lawton said, adding his teammates play a big role in his offensive success.

“They do a good job of drawing people away and they get it in and they move for me too. They get it around really quick and create space for me.”

The Eagles passed the ball almost as much as they dribbled it in offensive sets, carving up the Royals with backdoor passes and easy buckets.

They led 25-7 with plenty of time left in the first quarter, then slowed down but stayed up 38-25 at halftime and never let it get more interesting than that.

It’s a big start for SJR, which made it to AAA provincials last year but lost both its games in Thompson.

Naturally, Lawton liked this road trip to the Wheat City better, spending three days with his guys and

picking up five wins.

“It’s really great. It’s awesome,” Lawton said. “I didn’t think we were going to be as close as last year but this year we just really came together.”

The host Neelin Spartans finished fourth after falling 81-77 to Selkirk and 79-60 to Steinbach on Saturday.

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