Beattie Barons bite Cougars in b-ball final

If you are going to bother to assemble a couple of hundred screaming kids into a gymnasium, you might as well give them something to cheer about.

That was the mantra on Wednesday at Northeastern Public School in Garson, as the Rainbow Board of Education staged their girls and boys intermediate elementary basketball championships.

Both contests would go right down to the wire, with the MacLeod Mustangs edging the R.L. Beattie Barons 28-24 in the girls matchup, while the lads from R.L. Beattie got that one back with a 35-32 win over the host Northeastern Cougars.

Despite dropping each of their two previous encounters with Northeastern, and staring a 19-14 half-time deficit in the face in the championship affair, the Barons rode the hot hand of Abraham Soumahoro to victory, as R.L. Beattie scored the final seven points of the game.

Soumahoro was a one-man wrecking crew, netting 25 points for the winners, while the "twins" countered for the Cougars, with Brennan LaPierre registering 13 points and Liam LaPierre adding 11.

Both teams took a little time to really find their groove, with the nervousness of playing in front of the largest crowd of the year taking its toll early on.

"What you need to do is take that excitement and put it into your game, to help score those extra points, or get that big block," noted Beattie veteran Emmett Taillefer.

"We knew that we had to box out, we had to push the ball, and we had to make sure the twins didn't shoot," he added.

Well, two out of three ain't bad.

Fortunately, where Soumahoro had been challenged trying to stay away from foul trouble in earlier matchups, he never left the floor on Wednesday, much to the delight of his teammates.

"I like how Abraham takes the ball up and can go to the hoop and score almost any time," said Taillefer. "If you need points, give the ball to Abraham. He'll plough through and get the points."

The Barons' cause was aided early in the second half when Northeastern post Adam Bertrand was felled by a knee injury. Though he would return to the floor for the fourth quarter, the Cougars' big man was limping noticeably, creating a challenge for the home team not blessed with a great deal of overall team height.

As was the case in the girls final, players from both teams do not lack the least in having familiarity with their opponents, making for a very interesting dynamic.

"Playing Selects, you're representing the city, so that's exciting," said Taillefer. "But when it's your school, you know the people you're playing against. I know mostly everybody on that team, so it's a lot more fun, I find."

Following is a complete stat-line for both teams:

R.L. Beattie: Abraham Soumahoro (25), Emmett Taillefer (7), Brodie Erwin (3);

Northeastern: Brennan LaPierre (13), Liam LaPierre (11), Austin Pawluk (4), Nicholas Burke (2), Adam Bertrand (2).

The championship roster includes Abbas Dedanwala, Abraham Soumahoro, Augustin Marks de Chabris, Brodie Erwin, Colin Therrien, Emmett Taillefer, Ethan Bronicheski, Hudson Brown, Jonah Bennett, Josh Hayes, Malek Abou-Rabia, Max Mahaffy, Noah Gringorten, Will Maki and head coach Ron Erwin.