Crocus Plainsmen clinch first in wild city hoops league

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This article was published 26/01/2024 (602 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For a split second, Noah Mulaw felt like Kawhi Leonard.

He hoisted a shot with five seconds to go and watched it launch off the back of the rim and fall straight through the hoop to cap a thrilling 74-72 Crocus Plainsmen win facing the Vincent Massey Vikings on Wednesday night, similar to Leonard’s infamous buzzer-beater during the Toronto Raptors NBA title run.

The Brandon High School Basketball League has that playoff feel to it this year, with the three Brandon teams capable of winning on any night and the Virden Bears joining to push everyone while preparing for a possible AAA provincial run.

Wednesday’s game, which Crocus won to clinch a first-round bye to the city final, was a great example.

“It was pretty fun. I like it when the crowd’s bumping and everything, the crowd’s yelling, I really like it,” Mulaw said after dropping 29 points, 11 rebounds and nine blocks to go with the biggest shot of his young career.

“It just felt like the Kawhi shot. I saw it bouncing and was so happy when it went down.

“If it rolled off the edge I’m pretty sure I would have turned and put it back in. But it went in so that was a pretty good bounce. We let go of a lead but we came back so I felt pretty good about that.”

The Plainsmen controlled a defensive slugfest early. Mulaw scored a quick eight points and swatted nearly every shot taken in the key on the other end.

Crocus opened a double-digit lead and held it most of the third quarter until the Vikings applied a tenacious full-court press that had the Plainsmen flustered beyond belief.

Temi Toogun hit a couple of three-pointers and Christian Santin drilled another with a few seconds left to make it 50-45 Crocus entering the fourth.

The Plainsmen made another push but the Vikings press worked again and in the blink of an eye, they led 69-63 with three minutes to go.

“Coach (Brett Nohr) always says once offence is not working, just play defence,” Toogun said. “From your defence. you’re going to get your offence back. We were playing really good defence but props to Noah, he’s 6-8, we have to try as much as possible to stop him by boxing out but he’s also working and getting buckets he needs to get.

“We just gotta keep fighting. If something is not working for us, we’ve got to find better ways to score points.”

That could have been the end for the Plainsmen, but coach Matt Warren said his guys gained valuable late-game experience at last weekend’s Winnipeg Invitational Tournament. They won a pair of close games against Churchill and Oak Park to reach the final, falling 70-66 to Sisler.

This time, they settled down and got the ball to their playmakers. Christian Martin-Murray, Mulaw and Joshua Giesbrecht hit big shots to retake the lead and ultimately get to a tie-game situation in the last minute to set up Mulaw’s heroics.

“We kind of lost our head a couple of times but it’s to the boys for sticking with it. They stayed calm at the end and executed when we had to,” Warren said.

“I want to give props to Crocus and their whole team and organization, they’ve improved a lot these past four years and they got so much better,” Toogun said. “Me and my teammates, we were all surprised by it. that gives us more motivation to be better. They’re also working their butt off and trying to get better.

“It is definitely fun. You don’t get better if you’re just beating teams by 40 points … at some point it gets boring. When you get to the next level you’re going to find teams that beat you by 40. If you have teams where you’re playing together, challenging each other and only win by two points, that shows there’s a bunch of spots for improvement.”

Over the past few years, the trend has been Massey and Neelin taking turns as the city champions. When the Plainsmen found early success, like an 85-63 win at Massey to start the regular season and a 96-76 win over Neelin, they grew motivated to see how far they could go.

Ask anyone and they rally around one guy who isn’t necessarily going to lead them in scoring every — or any — night.

“Ayden Bone, he’s a dog,” Warren said. “He comes in every day with his lunch pail and he pushes guys, he works hard … he’s building that culture within our team and the guys are following suit.”

“Ayden’s really pushed himself and been a leader to the group. It’s been him pushing us in practice, telling us what to do,” Mulaw added.

“Christian helps out. he’s a big assister and he’s really good, when we need a bucket sometimes he’ll go get one.”

The Plainsmen close the regular season on Feb. 14 at Neelin, ahead of the best-of-three city final, which starts on Feb. 26.

The Spartans and Vikings play at Massey on Feb. 7, possibly to determine home-court advantage for the Feb. 21 semifinal.

It’s anyone’s guess how that goes and who the Plainsmen will face.

“It’s awesome, I’ve been excited all year, even with Virden in the league, they’re keeping everybody honest and playing good ball,” Warren said.

“It’s fun. It’s great, I respect Nohr a lot and I knew they were going to come in here and give us the gears. I was excited for us to come to the challenge and it showed. It was back and forth and ended on a shot. It’s exciting that the league’s where it is and basketball’s getting more competitive.”

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