Clippers claim junior varsity crown

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This article was published 10/03/2019 (2582 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Dauphin Clippers weren’t ready to let a little foul trouble stand between them and a provincial championship.

When J.J. Love took his third foul early in the second quarter, the rest of the Clippers junior varsity boys’ basketball team stepped up and kept the team in the AAA high school provincial final. Love returned for a game-high 19 points as the Clippers beat the Louis Riel Voyageurs 68-53 to win gold at Neelin on Saturday.

“It’s really sweet,” said Love, who was named tournament MVP. “We lost a lot of Grade 10s last year. So to prove that we had a lot of depth and see the Grade 9s that didn’t play a lot last year prove themselves was really nice.

“I had faith in my team. We practised hard this year and I knew that with me in or out, we’d be fine.”

Dauphin had to adjust without its six-foot-four big man protecting the rim, but it wasn’t a problem. The team has been adjusting all year. With co-coaches Dave Matskiw and Allan Bernat splitting practices and games, provincials marked just the second weekend both have been on the bench.

“They have to adjust quite quickly, and I think that helped them throughout the season, because they had to be creative,” Bernat said. “We had guys playing in positions they haven’t played all year, and they stepped up. It starts on the defensive end, and it leads to easy points and that was the turnaround.

“Once we get rolling, we’re a pretty tough team to beat.”

That didn’t happen right away. Without a rim protector on the floor, the Clippers gave up a 12-4 run to trail 22-17 early in the second.

Jesse Korbet laid his body on the line to stop the bleeding, slashing for a tough layup and taking a hit in the process. He picked himself up with a yell and completed the three-point play. Korbet rolled his ankle on the next possession, but hustled back and snagged a key rebound, finding Levi Seale for a corner three to lead 25-24 and force a Voyageurs timeout with four minutes left in the first half.

“I just knew something wasn’t right, but I had to get back on defence. Couldn’t give up a point for something silly,” Korbet said.

Just before the break, Dauphin went on a tear as Devin Shewchuk crashed the boards and scored on a putback, then tournament all-star Zerek Menard cleaned up his own miss for two of his 18 points on the game to lead 33-26 at the half.

Less than three minutes into the third quarter, Love planted his feet with an opponent six feet away and drew contact square on his chest: He was called for a block and his fourth foul.

“I said I’d just let him make the call against me or for him. It’s a huge momentum change if we get it, so I thought I’d risk it,” Love said.

The game went from slug fest to track meet. Both sides raced up and down the court and went layup-for-layup, triple-for-triple — Menard, Seale and Shewchuk each hit one as the Clippers maintained a 50-44 advantage with 10 minutes to go.

Dauphin pulled away with terrific ball movement. In the final frame, the Clippers had the ball flying around on offence, rarely touching the floor. Menard found Cody McKay on a one-two play down low to open up their first double-digit lead of the contest, 62-51 with under four minutes to go.

The Clippers put it to bed from there.

“It shows we don’t give up. We have a lot of team chemistry. From going from not playing with each other, a bunch of random guys to first place, it feels really good,” Korbet said.

Bocar Diallo led the Voyageurs with 18 points, while tournament all-stars Kaylen Desmarais and Zachary Bouchard added eight and six points, respectively.

After entering the weekend as the third seed, the Clippers got through The Pas’ Margaret Barbour Spartans 91-50 in the quarterfinals, then upset the No. 2 Westgate Wings 69-51 in the semifinals. Matskiw said the fifth-ranked Voyageurs were the toughest test of them all.

“Pretty proud. We knew that we were going to have a tough go,” he said. This game was going to be especially one we’d have to fight for, and I couldn’t be prouder with how the guys responded.

“There were some key moments there where a couple of 50-50 calls could be a block or a charge, and they can be a big game changer when you have to bring your stars to the bench for five, 10 minutes. But we had some other guys that really stepped up and had a really good weekend in general, but a really strong game today.”

Neelin finished fifth after beating the Ste. Anne Lynx 77-44 in the consolation final on Sunday.

On the girls’ side, the Spartans settled for fourth after losing the bronze-medal contest 56-48 to the St. James Jimmies. Coming in as the No. 7 seed out of eight, coach Trevor Beals couldn’t be more proud of his team’s effort.

“From where we started in December to where we are now, they’ve improved so much,” Beals said. “It’s amazing that they can claim they’re one of the four best teams in the province, and I’m so proud of them.”

FREE THROW:Seale and Desmarais shared the HARV award, which is named after former Neelin Spartan Jason Hargreaves and goes to athletes for their hustle, attitude, respect and values.

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