Holy Cross boys, LeBoldus girls clinch 5A Hoopla championships

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It was deja vu all over over again with completely stunning, but opposite results.

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In a complete reversal from last week’s city championship, the Holy Cross Crusader boys shocked Walter Murray Marauders on the last play to be crowned 5A Hoopla provincial basketball champions. Also, a decisive victory in the girls championship propelled Regina LeBoldus to a repeat.

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The Crusaders — who were crushed last Saturday after a last-second buzzer beater gave the Marauders the 5A boys high school basketball city championship — found their own last-play heartbreaking magic over the Marauders on Saturday night at St. Joseph Collegiate in the provincial final.

Senior guard Goloom Bein took the inbound pass with 3.9 seconds left in a tie game, drained the clock just enough, and calmly nailed his jump shot as the buzzer sounded to give Cross a dramatic 93-91 victory over Murray. The emotional Crusaders stormed the floor, piling on Bein and each other in a wild celebration in front of a boisterous standing-room-only crowd. It was a completely different scene just one week earlier with the Marauders doing all the celebrating when they gathered the rebound on their own last play missed shot to tip in the city championship game winner at the buzzer.

“It was a different type of tears this time,” said Crusader head coach Josh Rutten. “Lots of sadness last Saturday. And today. honestly, I cried again, but it was crying out of happiness. I told the guys, we’ve been through a lot this season but I’m really proud of how we came together as a family this year.

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“With that last play of the game, Goloom happened to be our last option, kind of a safety if we needed to get the ball in and our play didn’t work. They covered up our play, (so) we got it to Goloom. And then from there, the message was, ‘we’ve got four seconds, it’s a lot of time.’ He listened to that, and was able to do a pump-fake nice move and finished with a bucket.”

The Crusaders, who lost last week’s city final despite leading by nine points with less than two minutes left, led this provincial final by six points with less than two minutes to play. Six straight Murray points within 47 seconds tied the game 91-91 with 32 seconds remaining. On a Holy Cross possession, Murray Grade 11 star guard Zach Hawley stole the ball near the sidelines but wasn’t able to keep his foot in bounds, on a play where he may have scored. Holy Cross later missed on two straight shot attempts but fouled Marauder forward Mateo Gedir on a shot of his own with 9.9 seconds remaining. He missed both foul shots that would have given his team the lead. On the ensuing play, Murray took a non-shooting foul, setting up the game winning inbound play to Bein.

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“We were in the time out and we knew that we had four seconds left so we didn’t want to put up a first look,” said Bein about the setup for that final play. “So they gave it to me, because in a desperate moment, I guess I get the ball. I knew not to take the first shot. So I pump-faked, I drove and I stepped through and I thought I had missed it, but everybody came rushing to me and it was a great feeling. It was surreal.”

Cross standout Kian Tyson shared what was going through his head in the final game-winning second of the game.

“I had an extreme emotional rush,” Tyson shared. “Everything was hitting me, all the anger, sadness, frustration, but all the joy came too. The excitement of just winning it all. I felt a rush. I ran and chased him (Bein) down. We got this all together. It feels great when it all pays off better.

“What made the difference is we were able to play for 40 minutes. Last time when we played them in cities, we had them for 35 minutes. But this time, we had them for 40 minutes and we held them together and were playing really good together.”

Walter Murray and Holy Cross had played each other six times this year with each team winning three times. In the final two head-to-head championships of the season, a single point was all that separated the two teams, with Murray winning the city championship by one (87-86) and Cross winning provincials by two points (93-91).

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“I’m really proud of our city championship last weekend and the fight we put up here to a really good Cross team,” Hawley said.

“Both of us could easily be city and provincial champions or a split. One of us could have had nothing. One of us could have had both or we could have had a split. It’s about as even a battle as you can get. It’s the battles against these guys that have made us better for sure. It’s a great group of kids on both sides. Our kids deserved it last week and these kids deserved to have that feeling and those wins as well.”

This week’s game swung back and forth often with Walter Murray leading 16-15 after the first quarter and 41-34 at halftime. The Crusaders took momentum and the lead with Kian Tyson scoring the first seven points of the second half. Holy Cross outscored Walter Murray 27-12 in the third.

“That third quarter put is in a hole that really turned the game,” coach Hawley said. “We really had a hard time scoring. So that put us in a hole and our guys do what our guys do, we dug out of it. And we fought hard and played well, but it came down to that one play in the end. Last week it went our way and this week it didn’t.”

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Holy Cross built up a 62-53 lead by the end of the third quarter and maintained a three- to nine-point lead until the dying seconds of the fourth quarter. Moe Osman led the Crusaders with 32 points. Despite being held to only five first-half points, Tyson got going with 14 crucial points in the third on the way to 23 for the night.

Hawley — who was sporting a bandage over his right eye after needing stitches to repair a cut he received in the opening moments of his semifinal game — led all scorers with 35 points. The outstanding guard, one of the best players in Canada, likely played his last game for the Marauders despite being only in Grade 11. Hawley has committed to joining Edge School in Calgary next year, where he will play for the prep basketball program. Isak Larsen was second on Murray scoring with 15 points.

Cross and Murray have faced each other in the past three provincial finals with Holy Cross also winning in 2023 and Walter Murray winning in 2024.

The St. Joseph Guardians lost the 5A boys bronze-medal game 100-92 to the Regina Martin Monarchs.

Back to Back 5A titles for LeBoldus Golden Suns

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Despite missing their top player, the Regina LeBoldus Golden Suns seemed to have no problem in defending their 5A Hoopla provincial girls title. Leading from wire to wire, the Golden Suns upended the Swift Current Ardens 81-59 in the championship game. The Ardens were playing in their first 5A provincial championship game since 1991.

Midway through the first quarter, the Suns were up by 13. They stretched their lead to 27-12 by the end of the first and were up 46-32 at the half and 68-48 after three.

LeBoldus head coach Garrett Kot described the win as “a little bit unexpected,” since their top player Nicola Meban, only in Grade 10, missed the entire tournament due to national tryouts at the same time as Hoopla.

“We’re missing (Nicola) this weekend, but all the girls outplayed themselves and over-compensated for what we miss with that player not being here,” Kot said.

“We had a very good season against Saskatchewan teams. We had a couple close games but we haven’t lost any. I kind of figured we’d be here. I just didn’t think we’d play as well without that starter.”

The loss also represented a major positive step for the Ardens, who were playing in their first 5A provincial final in 34 years, since the school won an impressive and record-setting eight straight 5A titles from 1984 to 1991.

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“I think it’s a big accomplishment,” said Ardens head coach Andrew Herrick. “The 5A basketball scene, there’s some heavy hitters in Saskatoon and Regina. Even to make it to this game, to beat (Saskatoon) St. Joe’s (quarter-finals) and to beat (Regina) Winston Knoll (semifinals), those are tough teams.

“Being from Swift Current and playing that rural basketball circuit, it’s a different level sometimes when you come and play those city teams. I thought our kids matched their intensity and they put a lot of time in. It doesn’t just happen overnight. They put a lot of hours in to get to that point so we’re just super proud that we got a chance to be in a game like that.”

In 2022 and 2024, Swift Current finished fourth in 5A at Hoopla. The Ardens won bronze in 2023 before the silver this year.

“It’s been a good rise the last four years,” Herrick said. “To be in the Final-4, four years in a row is a pretty big deal.”

The Swift Current Ardens have also played in the 4A division at times, winning in 2007 and 2009, and finishing second in 2010 and third in 2008.

The Suns’ leading scorer was Hayden Kot with 22 points with teammate Tatum Milligan adding 21. Sarah Neustaeter led the Ardens with 16 points and Kylee Michaluk had 13.

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The top two Saskatoon girls seeds, Walter Murray and Holy Cross, each lost their quarter-final games by one point, eliminating them both from playoff contention after their first game of the tournament. The Marauders lost 72-71 to the Regina Winston Knoll Wolverines and the Crusaders were upended 59-58 to the Regina Miller Marauders.

Walter Murray faced Holy Cross in the girls consolation final in a rematch of the Saskatoon 5A city championship where Walter Murray won. The Crusaders got a measure of revenge in provincials, defeated the Marauders 85-59.

Miller defeated Winston Knoll 72-55 in the bronze medal game.

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