Hoop dreams come true for local cagers

BY MICHAEL PIASETZKI

If area teams qualifying and medalling at playoffs and provincials count for success, the recently completed inter-city basketball season could go down as one of the most successful ever.

The Brookwood Basketball Association saw all its Bullets teams from mini to juvenile participate in the Montreal Basketball League boys’ post-season tournament and the Montreal Metropolitan Basketball League’s girls’ playoffs. Meanwhile, for the first time in over 20 years, a West Island Lakers Basketball Association inter-city boys’ team captured playoff gold. Head coach Steve Brayne’s midget AAA squad defeated Superskillz 77-56 in the title game April 1 at Riverdale High School in Pierrefonds.

“I have been coaching at Brookwood since 1995 and this is probably the first time that all our teams made the playoffs,” said longtime Brookwood coach and volunteer Mauricio Salazar. “Perhaps one of the most pleasant stories though, were our juvenile girls, who finished second in the league this year. Just making the playoffs was an accomplishment for them. In the last two years, they had won only two league games. They finished with a record of eight wins and six losses this year, good for second place.”

One Brookwood team, head coach Jaimie Guy’s midget AAA Bullets, captured the coveted double, winning gold in both the playoffs and provincials. Meanwhile, area teams split the double in midget AAA boys. Despite being eliminated early in the playoffs, the Bullets rebounded to win gold at provincials, while the aforementioned Lakers captured gold in the playoffs before suffering an early exit at provincials.

“The provincials were a complete turnaround for us from the regular season and playoffs,” said boys’ midget AAA Bullets co-head coach Rouel Hidalgo. “We had trouble gelling as a team all year, and that didn’t change in our first game at provincials, which we lost to a very strong Superskillz team. However, we knew we could do better, and the guys stepped up in the final.”

As did the Lakers in the playoff final, who much like the Bullets in the provincial final, managed to neutralize Superskillz forward Kemy Osse, a talented player seemingly destined for a United States college or university next year.

“We used a diamond and one defence to cover him,” Brayne said. “We substituted every five minutes, getting in a fresh player to cover and wear him down. We held him to 21 points. For anyone else that is an amazing score. For Osse, it’s an average game at best.”