Peacock Outlasts Vanier in Semifinal

The Peacock Toilers and Vanier Vikings have had some battles this season and Thursday night’s semifinal was no different.

Peacock edged Vanier with a 74-62 win to advance into next week’s Moose Jaw High School Senior Boys Basketball League championship game. Central won 103-69 over Caronport in the other semifinal to set-up a battle between the two rivals next Tuesday.

“We just wanted to get out here and do the right things, Vanier got the last game (between the two teams), so we wanted to come back fired up,” said Peacock senior Jett Kowalchuk, who had 14 points to help the Toilers to the win.

Peacock guard Payton Chow led the Toilers with 24 points and also played some shutdown defence on Vanier’s top scorer Ronald Nyekowat, who was held to just two points in the loss.

Kowalchuk said their ability to get a few key stops defensively during the game ended up being the difference, “Vanier is a momentum team, they go on runs, they hit shots, so it was just mental toughness and we just tried to play through and stay focused,” he said.

“We switched to zone in the fourth quarter and that really changed it for us. Payton Chow had a huge defensive game without fouling and held Ronald to just a few points, which is hard because he’s a great player.”Vanier’s Ryan Stefanovic drives to the rim against a pair of Peacock defenders during Thursday’s semifinal game. (Photo: Marc Smith)

On the other side, Vanier just couldn’t seem to get that stop late in the game that they needed to go on an extended run. They fought right until the end.

“By the end of the game all of our players were on the ground,  we were all cramping, we literally gave it all,” said Vanier senior Ryan Stefanovic, who had a game-high 35 points.

“We had a couple of good runs in the first half, we had a really good run in the third quarter, but we ran out of gas at the end… A couple of bounces here or there, it was a pretty close game.”

Riley Follensbee chipped in with 18 points for the Vikings in the loss.

With their city championship dreams dashed, the Vikings will now turn their attention to earning a trip to Hoopla. Stefanovic said they remain confident in how they stack up against the best.

“We’ve got regionals next weekend, so we’ve got to get geared back up,” he said.

The Toilers will now head back to the league championship game at Sask Polytech next week. Kowalchuk said they’re hoping to finish the job this time around after losing to Central each of the past two years.

“The job isn’t done, we’ve been working towards this all season, so we’re going to go in there focused and I’ve got one more shot to do this,” he said.

Peacock will square off with the Central Cyclones for the league title next Tuesday. Central, who went a perfect 8-0 in the regular season, cruised into the title game with a 103-69 win over Caronport in the other semifinal on Thursday.