Tough defence Rams' Falcons in final

Basketball: Foothills holds in own for first half

Bruce Campbell/OWW

Foothills Falcon Tyler Grigor, right, attempts a shot over a Father Lacombe Laser in the semi-finals of the Falcon's Classic on Feb. 18.

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The Foothills Falcons proved they can play with one of the best teams in the province, however, they also discovered if they are not firing on all cylinders with a full tank, they will sputter against the top teams.

Foothills Composite was beaten 83-62 by Edmonton’s St. Francis Xavier Rams, the ninth-ranked 4A team (800 or more students) in the province, in the final of the Falcons Classic on Feb. 18 in Okotoks.

The Falcons were only down 42-36 at halftime, but couldn’t keep up the pace in the second half.

“We ran out of gas in the second half, but St. Francis is very good,” said Falcons coach Amron Gwilliam. “They have been ranked No. 2 (among 4A schools) for much of the season for a reason. They play the best man-to-man defence that I have watched or played against this season.”

The Rams are also deep which helped them stay fresh.

“They can roll 10 or 12 guys into the game and they are fresh, they can all shoot and they can all play defence,” Gwilliam said. “It is really hard to match up against them late in the game.”

Rams coach Jeremy Posteraro said clamping down on defence was the key to the victory.

“We went into this game like this was our mock city championship,” Posteraro said. “I told the guys at halftime to sacrifice their body and their effort — to play a solid 20 minutes for the remainder of the game. They bought into it.

“We pride ourselves on defence and we didn’t show up defensively in the first half.”

The Rams’ Joey Galan was named the game MVP with 26 points, 18 of them in the second half.

“We moved the ball better and I was just able to get better looks,” he said.

Falcons captain Tyler Grigor said Foothills was optimistic at halftime before being rammed early in the third quarter.

“At halftime we were very optimistic,” Grigor said. “Ray (Goff) got a big basket (and a free throw) to cut it to three early but then they went on a big run and we were not able to get back in it… That’s the best defence we have seen all year, they made our offence kind of scattered in the second half.”

He said the good thing about the game is it showed when the Falcons are on, they can play with the top 4A teams in the province.

The Falcons advanced to the final thanks to a 96-88 come-from-behind victory over the Father Lacombe Lasers from Calgary in the semifinal Saturday afternoon.

“We didn’t play very good defence in the second quarter,” Gwilliam said. “We knew from playing them the week before that Lacombe couldn’t handle the pressure very well so we kind of stayed in their back pocket for the second half. That’s what turned the game around for us.”

The Lasers took a 54-44 lead into the locker room at halftime, but the Falcons cut the lead to 73-67 with 1:04 left in the third quarter. By the time the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter, Foothills was able to cut the lead to 75-74.

The Falcons got hot in the fourth quarter hitting threes from all over the floor.

Grigor hit a pair of three pointers, the last of which capped off an 11-point run to give Foothills an 88-77 lead with approximately four minutes left in the game.

The Lasers would battle back and would cut the lead to 90-87, but then Foothills’ Joss Engen hit a timely three-point shot from well above the key with approximately 2:00 remaining in regulation time. The Lasers never made a serious threat after Engen’s three-point bomb.

“Tyler and Joss hit some timely threes for us which pushed us over the hump,” Gwilliam said.

The swarming Falcons’ defence nullified the Lasers’ top gun Lual Ateam who had 21 points in the first 20 minutes of the game. He was held to just three points in the second half.

Teamwork was responsible for the comeback according to the Falcons’ captain.

“Lacombe came out strong and took the lead at halftime,” Grigor said. “But we knew that if we played as a team, we can play some good basketball.”

Grigor said it was the team’s ability to work the ball that allowed him to get some open looks for his big three-point shots.

The Falcons had five players finish in double digits in scoring in the game. Grigor led the Falcons with 23 points, Goff had 20 while Engen, Taner Parrington and Jamie Derochie had 16 each.

Foothills opened the tournament with a somewhat disheartening 76-72 victory over the 3A Brooks Buffaloes. The Falcons had a huge lead early in the game, but despite a lackluster effort in the second-half were still able to hang on for the victory.

Gwilliam said his Grade 12 players, Grigor, Goff, Engen and Taylor Orr had strong weekends.

Goff played like he was ordering coffee at Tim Hortons. He had a double-double in each game.

Gwilliam added Grade 11 student Parrington had his best weekend of the year.

“It is good to see him coming along,” Gwilliam said.

The Falcons will have the week off now before trying for their sixth consecutive Foothills Athletic Council title. Foothills Composite will host the championship game on March 3.