OHSWEKEN — The Six Nations Junior Division Basketball Tournament took place at the Dajoh Youth and Elders Centre on Tuesday, February 26, after being postponed due to inclement weather.
The day featured match ups between all of the participating elementary schools from Six Nations, with each game holding six, four minute periods and controlled ball possession after an initial face off. The day itself ended with an exciting underdog victory.
Going up against Oliver M. Smith Elementary School, who were previously undefeated throughout the tournament, it wasn’t exactly in the cards for I.L. Thomas Elementary School to win the championship.
To win, the team had to defeat O.M.S., twice in a row if they qualified for the championship by taking a win from Jamieson Elementary School. This meant three games were lined up one after the other for I.L. Thomas.
After winning against Jamieson and winning the first game versus O.M.S., they then went on to the second. But rather than being out of fuel for this game, O.M.S., seemed to lag behind as I. L. Thomas reached ahead by two points in the first period.
By the second, I. L. Thomas earned a free throw point, while O.M.S., couldn’t quite connect with the basket as they either hit the rim or hit the backboard.
The third seemed to close up the game as O.M.S., continued to fight for possession, maintain ball control and fight for shot opportunities, but couldn’t finish. This allowed I.L. Thomas to reach ahead by another two points, while the final period simply showed a lot of hardworking defence for both sides and some time outs.
This finalized the game a full 5-0 for I. L. Thomas, who were awarded the Junior Basketball Championship for Six Nations and New Credit.
