In a game where defence was like UFO’s – rumoured to be out there but not actually seen – it was the offensive play by both teams that kept the large crowd cheering and screaming as they urged their respective schools to even greater heights of play.

The usual effective half court trapping defence of the Warriors failed to materialize until the final quarter where it caused just enough turnovers to allow them back into the game.

It was the explosive fast break game of the Squires, coupled with domination on the offensive and defensive boards that gave them a comfortable lead throughout.  The lead stretched to 12 points and then the Warriors fought to get it back to 8 before it spread again out to 12. The Squires’ very athletic and talented point guard, Colby, was a huge reason for his team’s domination on the scoreboard. 

With just 38 seconds remaining in the 4^th quarter, it seemed that the Squires had the Championship all but won, when a huge basket by Warriors’ forward Marvic got the score level.  Poor defence by the Warriors allowed the Squires to lead again by 2 and then with 6.8 seconds remaining Marvic took advantage of equally poor defence by the Squires to score an over-run lay-up to tie it up again. 

After inbounding against pressure defence, the Squires made a terrible error to give the ball to the Warriors with just 4.8 seconds on the clock.  With PMA supporters yelling to get the ball to Marvic, he missed a floater to send the game to overtime.

With the Warriors now back in the game it was up to the bench players of both teams to stand up and be counted as player after player fouled out for each team.  The rebounding supremacy continued to keep the Squires in the game, especially on the offensive end, however Warriors also had many chances of put back shots that failed to score.

In the end each team had just one starter on the court, lots of players suffering cramp and more players fouling out but it was the rebounding strength of the Squires that managed to retain ball control to win by just 2 points (89-87). It was two tired teams that lined up for the presentation photos at each free throw line after the game.

National Men’s Head Coach, Johnny Kintaro, watched much of the game and commented on the improvement of the standard in play from last year.  In the consolation game on Friday it was BMS that took out third place over EHS Squires White by the score of 55-42.

The ISL High Schools Girls Varsity is due to commence next week.