Unbeaten Spartans advance to BSSI semifinals

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This article was published 14/12/2024 (277 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Neelin Spartans ran the table in Brandon Sun Spartan Invitational pool play to sit top of the table at 3-0 with a pair of wins Friday.

The early game saw a Neelin get a 105-57 win over Frontier Mosakahiken Grizzlies before a 91-50 victory over the Portage Trojans to conclude the day.

Ethan Olson had 23 points in the Spartans near doubling of the Grizzlies while senior guard Owen Falk’s game-high 24 points against Portage sent the Spartans to today’s semifinal.

“It always feels great to have a performance like that. Thank my teammates for getting me the ball and trusting me to take the shots that I did,” said Falk, who was also quick to point out he was far from acting alone.

“It’s great to have many players, usually over five, that have been scoring in double figures every game so we know that it’s going to be evenly spread. No one’s gonna put up 30 points a game, so everyone’s going to have a chance.”

Falk took only a minute to reflect on his team’s play in the preliminary round but pointed out they are regrouping quickly and looking ahead to today’s playoffs.

“Obviously everyone’s feeling great about the first three games. All three were pretty much blowout wins, but we know the next games will be a lot harder and the teams are going to be way stronger so we need to be well prepared for that for sure,” Falk said.

The Spartans were seemingly in control at the half against Portage, leading 48-23 but that didn’t seem to slow them down.

Neelin started the third quarter with a 13-0 run, which included 10 straight points from Falk, culminating with a pair of triples before he subbed out to give Grade 10 players more floor time.

Falk’s time on the bench was short-lived however, as the senior guard was effective on both ends of the floor, creating havoc in the defensive end and setting up teammates in transition as well.

Portage made a late run to trim the deficit once the target score was in place. Neelin led 81-36, and the Trojans played some of their best basketball in the final few possessions.

The late surge serves as a reminder that today’s semifinals will provide no easy opportunities for the Spartans, so they’ll need to be ready to work if the goal of capturing the home tournament title is in store.

“We need to work our hardest and dig in. It’s great seeing the rest of the competition across the province and knowing where we stand as the season rolls along, but we know it’s December and will be completely different in March but it gives us a good idea of what other teams are like and how we compare to everyone else,” Falk said.

The Spartans will play Carberry in today’s semifinal at 11:40 a.m. at the Neelin gym.

• • •

Two other Westman teams finished atop their pools as Dauphin and Carberry also went 3-0.

Dauphin picked up a 75-50 win over Neepawa in the early game and a 66-33 win over Glenboro Friday afternoon.

Dauphin’s Nick Hudyma had game highs of 24 points against Neepawa and 25 points against Glenboro.

Carberry went undefeated following a 70-36 win over Sanford in Friday’s early game before beating Estevan 85-60 in the last game Friday.

The Cougars were paced by Owen Unrau’s 28 points against Sanford.

The Clippers will play Garden Valley in the other Source for Sports Division semifinal today, with tip-off set for 9:50 a.m. at Neelin.

The winner of that game will play with winner of the Neelin-Carberry game in the the Source for Sports Division final at 5:10 p.m., also at Neelin.

» mpackwood@brandonsun.com