Spartans Vie for Provincial Championship

The West Ferris Spartans basketball club are on their way to Whitby, Ontario this weekend to compete in the OBA Ontario Cup Provincial Championships. The team is coming into the tournament with an 11-4 record in their 4 tournament appearances this season and are confident that they can compete for the provincial title. The team is ranked 3rd in their division and they feel that they should be able to make it out of their pool and into the medal round.

“We feel like we are the best team in our pool,” said head coach Larry Tougas. “But in a tournament like this, one bad game could cost you the whole thing,” added the coach.

The team is coming off a very successful season in which they competed against the top teams in the province and finished with a championship banner in the Blessed Sacrament Tournament in Hamilton.

However, the team will be in tough this weekend as they will be without big power forward Detlev Himmelman who broke him arm at a football camp recently. That will mean a lot more minutes for the other two Spartan big men Steve Thomas and Scott Rodgers.

“Detlev was our one true big man; he occupies a lot of space down low and is great on the boards,” said Tougas. “That being said, we were never a great rebounding team, this just means our outside guys have to be a little bit better,” added the bench boss.

The Spartans have played a 1-4 system all season with the three forwards rotating through the one spot. Even with the injury to Himmelman, they can stick to the same system and split the minutes between Rodgers and Thomas.

Tougas is confident that his team can win their pool and advance to the medal round as they are the highest ranked of the four teams in their group. The tournament consists of 16 teams divided into four pools, only the top team in each pool moves on to the semi-finals on Sunday.

“We have beaten all the top teams this year, but they have beaten us as well. It really comes down to who gets hot this weekend,” predicted Tougas.

Whatever the outcome this weekend, Tougas said he is proud of his young squad and noted that the team can really make a splash next season.

“We are really a first year Junior team, only one player on our squad (Rodgers) is a second year guy. These players should be proud of what they accomplished this season,” boasted Tougas.