BSSI: Sophomore trio steps up for Vikings

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This article was published 12/12/2024 (279 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They grow up so fast.

Fifteen months ago, Nathan Santin, Knox Smith and Markus Stevenson walked into Vincent Massey High School as wide-eyed freshmen, navigating intimidating hallways.

It didn’t take long for them to welcome a new challenge: battling the best varsity basketball players in the province.

Vikings varsity head coach Brett Nohr brought all three up as sophomores and has given them big roles, playing key minutes in Thursday’s 68-57 loss to the Oak Park Raiders to open the Brandon Sun Spartan Invitational.

“We know they’re good players, all three of them are good,” Nohr said, adding the early jump to varsity comes with some unique challenges. “Nerves is a big one, they’re going to make Grade 10 mistakes but my job is to make sure they learn from them and get ready for their next years.

“If they happen in Grade 12, that’s on me.”

They all had their reasons for trying out for varsity. For Santin, a big one was his big brother Christian made the leap as a Grade 10 a few years ago.

“I always looked up to him and seeing him play up, I wanted to play up,” Santin said.

“Playing from a JV level from varsity, I can definitely see the difference but I’m adjusting.”

Stevenson simply wanted to push himself and see where his game stacked up. He’s already handling tough defensive assignments and has his teammates confident in his shooting ability in big moments. He splashed two massive three-pointers during a comeback bid that fell a little short on Thursday.

“I was feeling pretty comfortable. I’ve played this team before in JV and I felt really comfortable on the court and my teammates trust me to make threes,” Stevenson said.

“I love the competition, I love being able to play up and seeing all the great players in other grades. I just wanted to see how good the varsity competition is and it’s very good.”

Most hoops fans in Brandon could see Smith’s jump to varsity coming. He turned heads in middle school and cracked Team Manitoba last summer, competing at the 15-and-under national championship in Toronto.

Smith already looked confident and fearless in his first varsity game on home court, dropping 11 points in a defensive slugfest. Callum Brosseau led the Vikings with 13 points.

“I love it, man. I feel like the competition is so much better,” Smith said. “The kids in my grade, they’re good, but to get to the next level I have to play with kids older than me, better than me, the older kids from Winnipeg but it’s been so much fun.”

Last year, the trio played big roles on the Vikings’ junior varsity team’s run to the AAAA final four. Massey lost 65-42 to St. Paul’s after an 83-71 upset of the Dakota Lancers in the quarterfinals.

With a bunch of that season’s sophomores moving up as well, it made sense to play up.

“We’ve played together from a young age and we know what we want to do on the court, and we just know each other,” Stevenson said.

Smith, Santin and Stevenson know each others’ games well, and they’ll tell you the same things about each other.

Smith, the five-foot-11 guard, reads the game with poise beyond his years. He has a strong sense of when to change pace on offence and drives not just to create his own shots but to draw defenders and get his teammates involved.

Stevenson is deceptively tough to defend since he’s quicker off the dribble than teams expect. If you sag off, he’ll hit a shot. If you close out too hard, he’s one move away from blowing past you.

And Santin’s game is strikingly similar to his brother’s, incredibly quick with or without the ball. He’s a tough on-ball defender.

Nohr gave all three spots for a reason, and it’s not to merely cheer on the veterans.

“The practice reps are just way better for them. In practice, they’re getting challenged more. At the JV level, those three guys would be pretty dominant in their practices,” Nohr said.

“Here, they get those things but I’m not going to sit them on the bench and let them watch … they’ll learn from playing.

“It’s a tough situation for me because now I’ve got to make some decisions on how much playing time certain people get and who’s on the court. The philosophy now in December is to get everybody in but guys still want to win the game so there’s that fine line … there’s going to be some guys getting a little bit upset, but it’s the nature of the beast and you just move on.”

The Vikings will need two wins and some help today to keep their BSSI Victoria Inn Division (Tier 1) title hopes alive. They face the Miles Macdonell Buckeyes at 10:45 a.m., then Regina’s Riffel Royals, coached by former Neelin Spartan Steve Shields, at 2:15 p.m. Both games are at Massey.

Smith has a long list of things he and the team can do better after giving up a game-high 21 points to Binyi Lee in their loss.

“Stop fouling as much because they were in bonus every quarter,” Smith said. “Closeout on threes and force them to the weak hand. People were telling me (Lee), he only used his left hand a few times, he only drove right. I’ve got to look and learn.

“I’m trying to look for screens, back cuts, my guy, everything.”

• • •

In the other Tier 1 games, the defending champion Dakota Lancers opened Pool B with a 108-51 victory over Mennonite Brethren.

The other Pool B game between Northlands Parkway and Regina’s Campbell ended after deadline.

The Crocus Plainsmen fell 133-57 to the Sisler Spartans in Pool C.

Jeanne-Sauve took down Lord Selkirk 102-35 in the other Pool C game.

River East topped Yorkton (Sask.) 97-56 in the first Pool A game. Then, Regina’s Martin Monarchs dropped the Steinbach Sabres 107-45 in the evening game.

Riffel and Miles Mac were still in action at press time in their first Pool D matchup.

All teams have two games today before they’re separated into four-team brackets for Saturday’s playoffs. The Tier 1 final is at Neelin at 7 p.m.

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