Cardston Cougars win Jr. B Boys basketball tournament in Pincher Creek

First Place: Cardston 2015/16 Junior B Boys Cougars Basketball team

Second Place: Livingstone Junior B Boys Sabres Basketball team

Toni Lucas

Matthew Halton High School hosted a Junior B Boys Basketball Tournament on Saturday, January 30. Six teams participated, including Pincher Creek's Matthew Halton Hawks and St. Michael's Dragons, Lundbreck's Livingstone Sabres, Fort Macleod's F.P. Walshe Flyers, Claresholm's Cobras, and Cardston's Cougars. The first two games for each team earlier in the day decided who was playing who for the final standings. It worked out to be Hawks vs Dragons for the consolation game, Flyers and Cobras vying for third place, and Sabres facing Cougars for the Championship game.

Consolation - Hawks vs Dragons

This was a relatively tight game between the Hawks and the Dragons. The first quarter the Dragons only had a two point lead on the Hawks, which widened to an eight point lead by the half. The Hawks never got their steam back in the game, while the Dragons kept powering through. The game ended 51 - 65 for the Dragons. Hawk Tanner Wallace made 14 points in the game, and Dragon Julian Krizan earned an impressive 26 points during the game.

3rd Place - Flyers vs Cobras

Coaldale's Cobras

Flyers against the Cobras - this was a good game to watch.  Both teams were neck and neck throughout, the scoreboard showing a tie often. In the last four minutes of the fourth quarter the Flyers put on a tremendous push and finished ahead 28 - 23. Flyers Ryan Cervo was high scorer for the team with 10 points and Tristan Luther got MVP for the team. Cobras high scorer was Silas Oldenkamp with 14 points and Lucas Dunland got MVP for the team.

Championship - Cougars vs Sabres

The Cougars walked away with this game, winning by a wide margin. The Sabres gave a good effort but  were up  against very stiff competition. The Cougars are competent on the fundamentals as individuals, and are well into working together as a team and using strategies to their advantage.. The Sabres had a lot of support from the stands, and did not lose heart throughout. Cougar Davin Payne won MVP of the team and Gareth Kaack got MVP for Livingstone.

Sabres Coach Everett Nowlin said "I'm very proud of the boys. I think they played superb, they worked so hard. The team we played tonight was a very, very good team. We made them work harder than anyone else did toady, so I am pretty proud of them. They played their hearts out. I have 3 grade sixes in that lineup, and that's pretty young to play three games in one day. They all gave it their all."

Cougars Coach Kent Wynder said all of his players were in grade 7. "We come from a pretty tough division: Cardston, Raymond, and Magrath area. Basketball is pretty much predominate where we are and I had a good group to chose from when it comes to basketball. We had a good time."

• For more basketball stories click here.