With the likes of Dax Winch, Matt Gilroy and Jeremy Rhéaume all unavailable for their Monday evening game, the Macdonald-Cartier Panthères knew they were in tough facing the St Benedict Bears.

Even with the trio in the lineup, the Mac-Jack crew were in for a tough match-up with a St Benedict side that has already captured the Shoot the Rock banner earlier this year at Laurentian University and was coming off a decent tournament showing in North Bay over the weekend.

In that sense, an 89-46 victory for the Bears was hardly a surprise.

What jumped out, however, was the overall skill set being exhibited on both sides as boys basketball in Sudbury continues to enjoy a resurgence that is weaving its way throughout both the SDSSAA ranks but also into a boys rep basketball network that now numbers 15 teams strong under the umbrella of the Greater Sudbury Basketball Association (GSBA).

“There are some really tough teams,” noted St Benedict head coach Ben Smith, a man who is as immersed in the sport as almost anybody in the city. “I check the scores because I want to see who is doing well and a lot of the games are within ten points at the Division I level, which is pretty nice.”

“There’s a lot of parity.”

A long-time local referee, vice-president of communications with the GSBA and boasting an impressive coaching resume to boot, Collège Notre-Dame junior boys bench boss Martin Nadeau finds himself in complete lockstep with the opinions expressed above.

“Lo-Ellen senior boys are the exception – but a lot of the other schools are right in the mix,” Nadeau suggested in highlighting the south end powerhouse who are seeking to reclaim the city crown they lost to the Lasalle Lancers last February. “The parity in basketball on the boys side is really, really good.”

“As long as the parity stays like that, boys basketball in the city will stay healthy.”

The fact that my visit to the hardcourt at ESMC coincided with the day on which two of the teams that help showcase the sport in town highlighted their continued collaboration proved to be a wonderful coincidence.

“With the (Toronto) Raptors winning in 2019 and the local scene, the Sudbury Five and the Laurentian men playing well – and they are both visible and active in the community – it’s attracting more boys to play basketball,” said Nadeau.

The jump of the St Benedict Bears not only back to the Division I ranks but as a team that has legitimate OFSAA aspirations is just one case in point to the growth that is being seen in these parts.

“You look at a smaller school like ours, the fact that we are competing with schools like Lo-Ellen and Lasalle is amazing to see,” said Dylan Bertin, a returning senior who dropped 13 points on ESMC last night, joining a balance attack that also featured Keegan Adair (20), Phoenix Marks (20), Sullivan Smith (15), Ajani Rubic (8) and Dylan Nelson (7).

“I think we’re a lot stronger as a team this year,” Bertin added. “The new coach, the whole enthusiasm around the team and how intense practices are has made us better.”

Not to mention the improvement that comes from having to step up to a challenge on the court in pretty much every game that the team will play this winter.

“Iron sharpens iron,” said Bertin, somewhat philosophically. “It’s better to play better competition. It brings out the best in us. You never get used to playing under pressure if you continue to play bad teams.”

Acknowledging that a few key absences on the other side clearly helped the cause of his Bears, coach Smith also zoomed in on one of the realities that comes to light with any team that has the potential to shoot the ball really well.

“We were lights out in the third, beating them 31-11,” said Smith, as St Benedict widened a 43-26 half-time lead to a 74-37 margin heading into quarter four. “When we’re shooting well, we’re going to win that game, no matter what.”

This also falls directly in line with arguably where the largest steps forward are being seen in boys basketball, not only locally but right across the province. “Shoot the three, attack the rim; shoot the three, attack the rim,” stressed Nadeau. “It’s kind of what we are seeing in the NBA and it carries over to rep basketball and also on the high-school side.”

“The kids all want to score.”

That, of course, helps account for the upswing in 32 minute games that are beginning to threaten the 150 combined points plateau on more than just a rare occasion. Not that this speaks to the basketball purist in those who know the sport far better than I.

“I always feel like the defensive side is lacking,” said Nadeau. “It’s very offensively-oriented basketball right now.”

No need to convince the man who was also behind the bench as the St Benedict juniors made it back to back victories in league play on Monday, stopping Macdonald-Cartier 54-44 in the opening game of the evening.

“We can score, but defensively, we need to lock in and get more stops in order to compete and win NOSSA and then compete at OFSAA,” said coach Smith, alluding to the senior Bears. “You have to dig deep and just want it. And then you have to be there, help side, and you have to communicate.”

“I’ve said it a thousand times – it’s hard to get high-school boys to communicate on defense.”

A quick glance at the Division I standings sees the Lasalle Lancers at 3-0 and the St Charles College Cardinals (2-0) already with a couple of wins under their belts – though all eyes are on the inevitable run that Lo-Ellen Park (1-0) will make.

The Division II grouping finds the Collège Notre-Dame Alouettes as the only remaining undefeated team of the seven, with a whole bunch of super close games being contested within the rest of the entries.

As for a St Benedict senior team who would battled a Lasalle side that settled for silver at L.U. but earned a degree of revenge with a 60-54 victory in regular season action, there is still plenty of work to be done.

“If we can get everything going, then we have a chance to be that team I think that we can be,” said coach Smith. “Right now, we’re not that team. We’re that team for about a quarter. Against good teams, we need to be there for about three quarters.”

And the hope, for one and all involved, is that there will be more and more “good” boys basketball teams in Sudbury with every passing year.