CANORA — The Canora Composite School Cougars senior boys basketball team came into the regional tournament in Regina on March 18-19 with expectations of qualifying for HOOPLA, but suffered a disappointing two-point loss in the final game against Regina Laval.
The Cougars, ranked sixth in the province in the 2A division, were up against eleventh-ranked LCBI (Outlook) in the first game on Friday. Cougars Coach Noah Creedon said the Cougars played “extremely well” on their way to a 68-63 win. This qualified Canora for the regional championship game on Saturday against host Regina Laval, ranked third in the province.
The game was close throughout, with the Cougars leading by 15-13 after the first quarter, and 34-30 at halftime. With a 56 to 50 lead at the end of the third quarter, it looked like Canora might be on their way to pulling off the upset. But Regina Laval saved their best for last, and came away with a 75-73 win and a berth at HOOPLA.
“We played with a level of determination and will to win that was beyond anything I have seen all year,” reported Creedon. “Unfortunately in the finals we came up just short of the victory.”
Even though the season ended in disappointment, Creedon said he thoroughly enjoyed his first season of coaching at CCS.
“When I first took on this role, I did not expect to have the amount of dedication and talent that I had in this team,” he shared. “I also could not have asked for a better group of boys to coach. They always were respectful and did what was asked of them, I never had any problems with them.”
Creedon said the success the Cougars enjoyed this season would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of his two assistant coaches, his wife Kamdyn and Andrew Hoffman.
“I couldn’t have asked for better assistant coaches to help take the responsibility and some of the tasks off of my plate so that I could focus more on teaching these boys the systems,” concluded Creedon.
