Returning with gold medals from a second straight tournament, the GSBA (Greater Sudbury Basketball Association) U12 Storm boys discovered both the pros and the cons of venturing to a relatively uncharted part of the province.
Competing at the Mikey Suys Boys Invitational hosted by the Gloucester Cumberland Basketball Association, the Storm would be facing eastern Ontario adversaries for pretty much the first time since the crew began to attend OBA (Ontario Basketball Association) sanctioned tournaments from the age of U10.
For tournament organizers in Ottawa, that also created a challenge of where to slot in an unknown entity in the form of the Sudbury lads, given a total of 22 entries received for the U12 division, which teams tiered into groupings of five or six.
The Storm would rack up five straight wins, earning victory by at least 14 points in each and every encounter. Bonus for the locals was that every single player on their roster hit the scoresheet in each and every one of the five games, creating a wonderful environment for some growth opportunities right across the entire Sudbury roster.
The potential mismatch was evident early as the Storm opened Division 3 pool play with a 57-14 thumping of the PRBC (Prescott Russell Basketball Club) Rockets as Logan Martikkala nailed a trio from three-point land, finishing with 14 points, while Mérick Nadeau chipped in with an even dozen.
The toughest challenge for the locals would come in a game two battle with the Brockville Blazers, the GSBA reps prevailing 42-28 as Rohan Saidi-Smith stepped up big time in controlling the boards while also netting 10 points, with Médric Raymond next with eight.
Ready to roll, the northern squad rode the one-two punch of Mérick Nadeau and Tejeda Gieselman to a 57-17 victory over the Kanata Lasers, looking equally as impressive in rounding out their undefeated preliminary play run with a 47-12 triumph over the Arnprior Basketball Valley Pride (Mason Kamuntu / Ridge Maskevitch - 10 points each.
No surprise that Brockville would await them in their divisional championship affair, though the Storm were not messing around the second time through.
Bolting out to a quick 12-0 lead, the Sudbury lads never looked back, upending the Braves 55-28 as Tejeda Gieselman (14) and Hudson Blais (9) helped to show the way offensively.
"The boys are really playing at a different level since the Christmas break," noted head coach Martin Nadeau, ably assisted in the coaching department by Claire Gieselman.
"They are buying into our new defensive concepts and and have really started playing as a team. Offensively, our quick, decisive ball movement created lots of wide-open shots. My favourite line with them right now is "sharing is caring" when it comes to moving the basketball."
Looking ahead, the U12 Storm make a return visit to Brampton for tournament play (March 22nd/23rd) and have scheduled a two game exhibition set on April 5th against the Muskoka Breakers and Orillia Lakers to fine-tune the team before OBA Provincials from April 11th to the 13th in Niagara Falls.
