The Holy Trinity Academy Knights cleared one hurdle on the weekend, but they still have some large hurdles to overcome.
Those are six-foot-nine and six-foot-four hurdles in Chestermere Lakers Jeff Rodehutskors and his brother Mark, respectively.
The Lakers beat HTA for the third consecutive year in the Knights Senior Boys Basketball Classic final with an 87-58 victory Saturday at HTA.
“We didn’t have an answer for Jeff or Mark and Chestermere is so disciplined they don’t make mistakes — and if you make a mistake they are going to make you pay for it,” said Knights coach Sam Aiello.
The Lakers jumped out to an early 11-2 lead when Jeff made a statement with a slam dunk four minutes into the game. They would up their lead to 36-16 when Jeff snared his brother’s errant shot and went up for a layup with five minutes left in the first half. They would lead by as much as 40 before the final buzzer sounded.
“I challenged the guys to come out with some intensity — that we needed to do this to make a statement as a team for the rest of the year,” said Lakers coach Kirby Dugdale.
Jeff Rodehutskors led the Lakers with 27 points, while brother Mark had 13. The Knights’ Jared Helinsky and Cole Fieseler were the top Knights’ scorers with 10 each.
“It’s cool that it’s been against HTA in the final all three years,” Jeff said. “We have always had tough games against them. The last three years, this game has set up the (South Central) zone final, we get to know each other.”
Fieseler said the Knights can learn from the loss.
“If we can come out and match their pace, we have a chance at keeping up with them,” Fieseler said. “We have to always have a guy on Jeff to prevent him from getting all those boards and points.”
The Knights cleared a hurdle by downing Airdrie’s George McDougall Mustangs 80-73 in the semifinal. The Stangs had clobbered the Knights by more than 30 points in a tourney in Canmore before Christmas.
“For us that semifinal was important because they beat us so handily in Canmore,” Aiello said. “I really wanted to play them. This was a real gritty win for us against George Mac.”
Helinsky stole the Mustangs’ thunder, with four steals in the opening 10 minutes to give HTA a 24-9 first quarter lead.
“I wanted to make a statement because we lost to them so badly, so I came out really aggressive,” said Helinksy, who finished with 20 points. The Knights’ Anthony Cave, who missed the first loss to George Mac along with Fieseler, led the Knights in scoring with 24 points.
“We came out really focused and there was a big difference since the last game,” Cave said.
The Mustangs never led in the game, but were able to tie the game 53-53 late in the third quarter. HTA was able to weather the storm.
“We weren’t prepared to give up,” Cave said. “We knew what we had to do and we got it done.”
The Knights put the game away when after a second straight Knight missed foul shot, six-foot-four Jesse Ralph crashed the boards and tipped the ball in to put the hosts up 73-62 with 4:20 left.
Mustangs coach JT Thompson said his hard-working squad met a team that was more than up to the task.
“HTA really came at us,” Thompson said. “We knew they were hungry for us and they took it to us. They were just more hungry than we were.”
He admitted he thought the Mustangs would walk away with it when they finally tied the game late in the third quarter.
“My words to them was ‘let’s put the foot down,’’’ Thompson said. “Unfortunately, they (the officials) started calling the game closer and we couldn’t adjust. I gave Sam (Aiello) full credit. They were ready for us.”
The Knights opened the tournament with a 71-45 victory over the Olds Spartans Friday night. Helinsky had 13 points and Ralph finished with 10.
Helinsky said they have some work to do to clear the Chestemere-Lake sized hurdle.
“It was a big win to get past George Mac,” Helinsky said. “It would have been nice to beat Chestermere. Hopefully, we can get another shot at it.”
The Knights will now break for final exams. Their next action is at the Olds Spartans tournament on Jan. 29-30. Earlier in the week, the Knights remained undefeated in Foothills Athletic Council play at 4-0 by downing the Oilfields Drillers 93-54 on Jan. 6.
