Community Y takes bantam boys hoop provincials

BY JOHN DECOSTE

The Advertiser/NovaNewsNow.com

Community Y from Halifax captured the Basketball Nova Scotia Bantam Boys Division 1 provincial championship contested Mar. 28-30 at Horton High School.

The Valley East Basketball Association (VEBA) hosted the tournament, which also featured North Preston, JC Rockets, Cole Harbour and Fall River.

All six teams competed in Division 1 in the Metro Basketball League this winter, with the tournament seedings reflecting the final MBL bantam boys’ standings.

Community Y and North Preston met in the final in a battle of 3-0 teams, with Community Y building a 32-21 halftime lead en route to a 55-45 victory. Justin Beals had 20 points for Community Y, and Antonio Simmonds had 17 for North Preston.

The host VEBA team finished the tournament with a 0-3 record, losing 66-35 to North Preston and 60-57 to Fall River in round robin play and 55-47 to Cole Harbour in the fifth place game.

“We knew we were in tough against North Preston Friday night, and we really struggled with their speed,” said VEBA head coach Bob McGill. “The rest of the weekend, I thought we played fairly hard, but by times not very well.”

VEBA, which had placed fourth in the regular season standings, “had a few unforced turnovers and at the D-1 level, that can be all the difference.”

Against North Preston, point guard Adam MacNeil led VEBA with 19 points and Adam Melanson had eight. In the Fall River game, MacNeil led all scorers with 25, Melanson also managed double figures with 12 and Trent Oickle chipped in eight.

Against Cole Harbour, Melanson led VEBA with 13, Schuyler Leenhouts eight and MacNeil seven.

McGill noted, “the results of the weekend don’t necessarily show it, but this is the hardest-practicing team I’ve ever coached. They are a great group of young men, and I’m proud of what they’ve accomplished this year.”

The VEBA bantam girls’ team coached by Bobby Smith and Garner Hill earned silver medals at the Division 2 bantam girls’ provincials in Dartmouth. After going 3-0 to reach the final, VEBA dropped a 59-46 decision to Cape Breton Stars.

According to coach Hill, the bantam girls “far surpassed our expectations, showed marked improvement” from the start of the season through provincials, and displayed “a winning attitude both on and off the court.”

The girls “proved they belonged” in the Metro League where they played Division 2, “holding their own most of the year” and winning the Bedford Classic tournament.

At provincials, VEBA advanced to the final with a come-from-behind overtime win over Lunenburg Lightning.

In the final against a talented Cape Breton squad, the girls again came back from a large deficit, only to fall short in the end and settle for silver medals.

Candace Smith made the tournament all-star team, and Smith, Kelsey Schofield, Ashley Rushton, Nicole Tibbetts and Grayson Parker all earned Hustle Awards.

VEBA also had a team at the mini girls’ Division 6 provincials. That team, coached by Pat Murphy and Maura Ryan, won bronze medals with a 33-32 nailbiter over Fall River.

Earlier in the tournament, VEBA lost 46-41 to Halifax, defeated Bible Hill 47-17 and lost 42-41 to Fall River. This created a three-way tie for second place, meaning VEBA had to defeat Lunenburg by three points to advance to the gold medal game.

The Valley team ended up losing by one, with the winning points scored with seven seconds left.

Hantsport teams earned a pair of bronze medals, defeating Bedford Eagles 56-53 in the bronze medal game in bantam girls Division 6 and topping Acadia Minor 62-57 in an all-Valley bronze medal match in bantam boys Division 6. Kings Minor lost 32-29 to Pugwash in the bronze medal game in bantam girls Division 4 and also ended up fourth.