GREENWICH, N.S. — Mark Clarke says it was a great weekend of basketball across the board at this year’s Division 1 championships, where his Horton High School Griffins took home the bronze medal.
The tournament’s first day saw Citadel High School defeat Cobequid Education Centre in a very close game to start off the tournament. This game was followed by Dartmouth High School easily defeating Sydney Academy in the tournament’s second game.
Halifax Grammar School then pulled away late in the game as they defeated Cape Breton’s Riverview High School, and Horton lost a very physical matchup in the late game to defending champions Auburn Drive High School.
To start off day two, CEC ran away with a convincing win over Sydney Academy. Horton rebounded in their second game with a team effort over Riverview, using a 34-6 second quarter run to blow the game open. Dartmouth used their athleticism and speed to narrowly defeat Citadel High in the tournament’s first semi-final, and Halifax Grammar and Auburn High matched up in the other semi-final, with Halifax Grammar coming out on top.
Due to the new Nova Scotia School Athletic Federation (NSSAF) provincial format, cross over games were played in the morning to see who would play for the bronze medal. At 8 a.m., Horton used their defensive pressure to defeat Citadel in a close battle, winning 72-62.
Auburn came out victorious in the other qualifier game in a close match against CEC, setting up a re-match with Horton for the bronze medal.
Riverview won the battle of Cape Breton in the consolation game as they defeated their cross-town rivals Sydney Academy.
In the bronze medal game, Auburn came out quickly taking an early lead before Horton caught fire and increased their defensive pressure to win 116-106 and take home the bronze medal. Isaac Clarke had a monster game for Horton, posting a tournament-high 42 points with 14 assists and 10 rebounds.
In the gold medal game against Halifax Grammar, Dartmouth lost one of their top scorers, Kyrie Thompson, in the first five minutes of play due to a severe ankle sprain. Thompson didn’t return to play, but Dartmouth held on to a slim margin most of the game before running away with it early in the fourth quarter and winning the provincial title.
