BY JOHN DECOSTE

Kings County Register

After easily winning the Mainland Athletic Conference (MAC) title on home court, the Horton Griffins set their sights on the Western Region D-1 boys’ championship this weekend, also to be hosted at Horton.

The Griffins topped Park View 104-68 in the MAC final Feb. 9, building a 50-27 halftime lead and coasting to their 58th consecutive victory since late December of 2006.

Pat Riley had 30 points to lead Horton, which also got 22 points from Jeremy Dunn, 14 from Ellis Ffrench and 10 each from Neal McGill and Jake Kendrick.

The 36-point margin of victory over Park View was the smallest of Horton’s three wins in the eight-team tournament, in which the Griffins averaged 105 points per game.

Horton opened with a 110-35 thumping of Northumberland, then advanced to the final with a 101-58 semifinal victory over CEC.

In the Northumberland game, Horton’s five bench players, led by 15 points from Jake Kendrick and 11 from Neal McGill, outscored the Northumberland team 40-35.

Among the starters, Ffrench had 23 points, Dunn 17 and Riley and Sage Tanner 13 each in limited action.

Against CEC, Horton used an effective full-court press to break open a close game in the early going to lead 31-14 after one quarter, then outscored the Truro school 32-11 in the second quarter for a 63-25 halftime lead.

Ffrench led the way with 33 points, and McGill, who had an outstanding weekend, chipped in 17 off the bench. Riley with 15, Dunn with 11 and Keegan Fiske with 10 also reached double figures for the Griffins.

Speaking Feb. 11, head coach Tim Kendrick felt his team “played well the whole weekend. If we continue to play like that, we’ll be hard to beat from here on in.”

Kendrick knew Monday Horton would host D-1 boys’ regionals this Friday and Saturday, and it would be a four-team tournament with Park View, Avon View and Yarmouth. However, the schedule remained up in the air pending the completion of a game between Avon View and Yarmouth to decide fourth place in the region. That game had been postponed three times due to weather.

Also impacting this weekend’s D-1 regional schedule was a twice-postponed girls’ game between Yarmouth and Horton with first place in the region on the line.

If the Horton girls won that game, both regional tournaments will be at Horton this weekend, with games at 2 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday, with the regional Junior Varsity championship at 1 p.m. Saturday.

If Yarmouth won by five points or more, the Vikings would finish first and host regionals, with Horton placing second, making this weekend’s regionals at Horton a four-team (all boys) rather than an eight-team event.

Both the Yarmouth-Horton girls’ game and the Avon View-Yarmouth boys’ game had been rescheduled for Feb. 12 – weather permitting.

Central Kings will host the D-2 boys’ regionals this weekend. Due to the number of postponed D-2 games this winter, Gators’ head coach Stan MacVicar was “probably 90 per cent sure” it would end up an eight-team rather than a six-team event.

For that reason, MacVicar was unsure Monday of the schedule for the event, which will also start Friday and conclude Saturday. Central Kings placed first, West Kings second and NKEC third in the Valley D-2 boys’ league.

The D-2 girls’ regionals will be on the South Shore, with NKEC, Middleton and Central Kings all part of the mix. Again, the order of finish was not finalized pending the result of a postponed game between first-place NKEC (4-0) and second place Middleton (3-2).