Vanier Takes A Pair From Lumsden

A broken backboard at Vanier Collegiate had both the Vikings and Spirits basketball teams move into temporary digs on Tuesday evening.

Playing out of the new Our Lady Of Hope (OLOH) school (the Catholic side of the new South Hill joint use school) the Vanier teams took advantage of the smaller elementary school sized gymnasium to pull off a pair of victories against Lumsden.

For the Vikings it was a tough physical affair that saw the Devils fall 75 - 52.

For the Spirits it was an often physical affair where they clipped the Angels wings in a 47 - 26 win.

Vikings 75 - Devils 52

A flat first quarter had the Devils in a bit of a pit. The Vikings came out strong and aggressive and the Devils failed to respond adequately.

The Vikings were able to grab a 24 - 7 lead at the end of the quarter.

The second quarter saw the Devils break out the brimstone and they burned into the difference in points scored in the quarter.

The Vikings scored 17 points and the Devils scored 18 points in the quarter.

The score at halftime was Vikings 42 and the Devils 25.

The third quarter was a highly physical affair with the Devils going toe to toe with the much larger Vikings. At one time in the quarter the Devils had managed to come within 11 points of the Vikings.

The Devils scored 19 points and the Vikings scored 16 points in the quarter.

The score at the end of the quarter was the Vikings 59 and the Devils 45.

The Devils came out flat in the fourth quarter and the final score was Vikings 75 and the Devils 52.

“One of the things we try to say to our boys is don’t wait to get punched in the mouth before you respond and we kind of did that tonight,” Drew Schenk head coach of the Lumsden Devils said in a post game interview with MJ Independent.

“We kind of did that tonight we got down big in the first quarter before we responded,” he said, adding “we weren’t ready to deal with the pressure. Their aggressive defence plus Coach David (Tardif) did a good job of putting up blocks.”

Despite the loss the coach was very happy with how the Devils played.

“I was very happy that we threw away the first quarter. The last three quarters we ended up losing by three points. I’ll take those three quarters and we can build on that and throw in a better first quarter. Hopefully it can be a singles digits game and not 20 (points).”

Commenting on the very physical third quarter where the Devils stood up physically against the much bigger Vikings Schenk said the team had the spirit to do it.

“It takes a lot of heart to do that and that’s what our guys had a lot of heart,” he said.“What we lack in other areas we definitely make up with in heart.”

Asked if he was proud of one of his players in the third quarter who took on three Vikings’ players for ball possession all the the way to the floor he said he was.

“We always preach you can only control what you do. Do what you can and don’t stop and they didn’t,” he said, adding “if they do that I don’t care about the outcome of the game.”

Schenk said he was happy with the Devils aggressive play but would have liked them to be more aggressive in the first quarter.

“We just let Vanier to do what they wanted to do. Like sort of flex their muscle until we realized hey we can be aggressive. We may not be as big as them but we can still play aggressively and then things turned more to our favour.”

Being on the smaller OLOH court was seen by Schenk as an advantage in Vanier’s favour.

“It definitely favoured Vanier in the beginning. When you shrink the court and they’re a pretty hood trapping team it takes away angles and gives you more space to work with. We used it a little bit in the third quarter but yeah it definitely favoured them,” he said.

Another factor was that the smaller court area held back the Devils speed. There was less room for the Devils to take advantage of.

Devils’ player (center) is stripped of the ball by three Vikings - MJ Independent photo

Asked if he thought Tuesday’s game was the Devils best he pointed out the game where they won over the Peacock Toilers ranked up there as well.

“Tonight’s game was right up there. We have got to take away what we can. It’s not a win but sometimes there are other wins within a loss that you can take away.”

Regarding the Devils team development Schenk said they are close to where they want to be at this juncture in the season.

He typified the team as always being hit and miss with guys playing hockey and missing. Guys working and then are missing.

“To have the same guys at practice to work on things it’s always been tough…but I think we’re coming. We’re a little bit ahead of where we have been in the that for this time of year,” he said.

The Devils need to work on being careful with the ball but at the same time being aggressive with the ball.

Speed and pestering opponents were for Schenk the Devils’ strong points.

“I think our speed and the way we can pester guys. Like we are not going to outmuscle anybody but if we can use our speed to our advantage and get some easy run outs that’s where we can play our best,” Schenk said.

“We might not beat the best teams but as long as we let them know we are going to fight and not bow down then I’m happy.”