Through the opening three games of the IEM Newmarket Tournament, coach Martin Nadeau and his U11 Sudbury Storm boys basketball team had not won a game by less than 16 points.
Come the championship final against the host team, the Storm trailed 26-17 at the half, a Newmarket lead that was punctuated by a first-half closing buzzer beater, no less.
Facing their first true advertisity of the weekend, Nadeau challenged his local youngsters - and they responded.
Led by tournament MVP Kaesen Adair, who netted a total of 17 points by the time the final buzzer sounded, the Sudbury lads rallied for a 41-38 win over the IEM Newmarket Spartans, one year after falling in the final of the very same tournament.
"I told them: let's play hard on defense and leave all of your efforts and energy on the floor," Nadeau confessed of his halftime chat with a dejected group of athletes. "Our aggressiveness, speed and endurance could not be matched - especially in the last two shifts when we are allowed to full court press."
The Storm spread the scoring around nicely in their opening tilt, a 62-16 victory over the Hall of Fame Hustle from Bradford, with every single Sudbury player getting in on the offense and Kaesen Adair (14) and Mérick Nadeau (12) showing the way.
The second game was the closest of the round robin affairs, a 53-37 triumph over the North Toronto Huskies as Mérick Nadeau (14) and Mason Kamuntu (12) paced a team that was led even more by a strong defensive game, right across the roster, especially when it came to rebounding.
Their best performance would come in making it three straight wins for the Storm who outscored the Thornhill Thunder 49-21, implementing the team goal of attacking the rim with speed and finishing nicely at the rim, almost to perfection.
Tejada Gieselman (16) and Kaesen Adair (13) provided a nice one-two punch for the northern squad that also features Jack Beyers, Jacob Leclair, Médric Raymond, Rohan Said-Smith, Hudson Blais, Willem Timusk, Elijah Presello and assistant coach Clare Gieselman.
