Tigers basketball advances to Zone Seven Final

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Published on Friday, February 19, 2016

By Eoin Devereux

The Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

NACI’s varsity boys basketball team has advanced to the Zone Seven finals. The Tigers earned the trip to the championship game by defeating the MacGregor Mustangs on Thursday, Feb. 18, by the score of 75-39.

Neepawa was able to take control of the game right from the onset, scoring early and often in the first quarter. That secured them a comfortable 28-11 lead. While the Tigers were unable to keep up that torrid scoring pace in the second, they did clamp down on their defensive effort, allowing MacGregor to score just five additional points before the half. That made it a 29-16 game at halftime.

For the third quarter, MacGregor started quickly, scoring the first six points to make it 39-22. After taking a quick timeout to slow down the building momentum of the Mustangs, Neepawa was able to refocus and rattled off 13 of the next 17 game points. Each team traded opportunities to end the third with the score 54-31 Neepawa.

In the final quarter, the Tigers locked up the win early by scoring the first nine points. From there, they were able to cruise to the 75-39 win.

Dillan Neufeld led the way for NACI with 18 points, while R.J. Cadelina contributed 16 for the win. The Tigers will face the William Morton Warriors in the championship game on Tuesday, Feb. 23. The Warriors earned their shot at the title by beating the Elton Sabers 73-56.

As for the Varsity girls squad, they did not play their scheduled semi-final due to forfeit. They will advance to the Zone Seven Final to play the Elton Sabers. A date for that game has not yet been announced.