If the rules were to allow it, the Sudbury U12 Storm Boys would gladly have tucked aside apoint or two from one of their early wins at the Inter-City Saints Fall Classic in Brampton / Mississauga two weeks ago, saving that additional offense for the gold medal game when it was most needed.

Of course, there are no such tournament provisions, so the Storm will take a 57-56 overtime loss to the NTBA (North Toronto) Huskies as a "learning moment for the young ballers", in the words of Sudbury head coach, Marty Nadeau.

The Storm tipped things off the previous day with a complete game effort that resulted in a 46-27 win over the West Ottawa Hornets, an early lead for the northern crew never really threatened.

While Sudbury again held at the advantage at the half in game two, up 31-21 opposite the host Inner-City Saints, it was in the second half that the locals blew the doors wide open, cruising to a 75-35.

"This was an all-around good game for all of the boys with everyone able to chip in with points on the scoresheet," said Nadeau.

Facing a Wynn Basketball Academy (Mississauga) squad blessed with more height than their previous two opponents in their Sunday semi-final, the Storm worked hard on defense and did a nice job containing a very shifty guard, bouncing the GTA reps 39-20 in earning their shot at gold.

Returning eight players from the 2023-2024 Storm team (Mérick Nadeau, Rohan Saidi-Smith, Tejeda Gieselman, Médric Raymond, Mason Kamuntu, Hudson Blais, Jack Beyers, Kaesen Adair), the lads welcomed four newcomers to the fold in the form of: David Olili, Ridge Maskevich, Niyam Patal and Logan Martikkala.

Laurentian Lady Vees' alumnus Clare (Beatty) Gieselman is serving as assistant coach, with Danielle Paquette tackling manager duties as the Storm prepare to host a team from North Bay this coming weekend for a pair of friendlies at Collège Notre-Dame.