(File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Ian Gustafson

Playoff Time

Crusaders and Marauders top ranked teams in regional boys basketball tournament in P.A.

Mar 18, 2022 | 8:00 AM

High school basketball teams from across the province will be coming to Prince Albert over the next two days for the 5A boy’s rural regional tournament.

On Friday and Saturday 10 teams will face off at Carlton Comprehensive Public High School for a chance to move on to provincials.

Tom Hazzard, coach of the senior boys’ basketball team at Carlton, explained teams from all corners of Saskatchewan will be at the tournament. Games begin at 11:15 a.m. today and will continue until 5 p.m. on Saturday.

The two Prince Albert teams, the Carlton Crusaders and the Ecole St. Mary High School Marauders will be the top two ranked squads in the tournament. The Crusaders are number one and the Marauders are right behind them at number two.

Hazzard said it’s very exciting to see both P.A. teams ranked the highest out of all the teams in the tournament.

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“Just shows you the level of basketball that Prince Albert is beginning to develop,” Hazzard said.

The other teams making the trip in for regionals include Estevan, Weyburn, Swift Current, Warman, Yorkton Regional, North Battleford Comprehensive, Lloydminster Comprehensive, and Balgonie Greenall.

The tournament will be in bracket form and the top two teams who meet in the finals on Saturday night will advance to the 5A level in Regina the following weekend.

Hazzard said this time of the year you need to be playing your best basketball.

“I think that if we play well, we will fare well at the end of the tournament and so I think our chances are pretty good but obviously every team there is coming to compete and play their best basketball as well,” he said.

P.A. Carlton will play their first game on Friday at 6:15 p.m. and if they win, they will play Saturday morning at 10 a.m. The St. Mary Marauders will also play Friday night at 8 p.m. and if they win, they will play at 11: 45 a.m. Saturday morning.

For those who can’t be in the gym to watch on Friday and Saturday, the games will be livestreamed on YouTube. To watch the games on Friday, click here and on Saturday, click here.

The results of each game will be posted on the Saskatchewan High School Athletic Association website.

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Ian.Gustafson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @IanGustafson12