Zeniths off to Edmonton after a third place Zones finish

By Karlene Skretting
Westwind Weekly News
reporter.karlene@gmail.com

After a weekend of ups and downs, the Magrath Zeniths finished the ASAA 4A boys South Zone tournament with a bronze medal and a provincial berth, thanks to a 94-90 victory over CCH.
Even though the Zeniths had a lead from start to finish, the Cougars started to paw there way back after a rough forth quarter that included Austin Bennett being fouled out and Morgan Broadhead breaking his ankle.
Tim McMahon lead the Zeniths offensive with an impressive 43 points, followed by Carter Hansen with 20 and Bennett with 19.
The Zeniths hit the road for Edmonton on Wednesday with other South Zone representation that includes LCI and Cardston. Magrath is the smallest school taking part in the 4A boys provincials this year, they are going in ranked eighth out of 16 teams.
Magrath will open up the tournament at Jasper Place High School against Bishop O’Bryne who is ranked ninth. “It is predicted to be a close game,” shared head coach Allen Gallup.
“We have to play well because we are a little bit undersized, but we are skilled enough to compensate for that.” Gallup feels that is the boys play their style of basketball they will have a good run.
The 4A boys championship provincial game will take place on Saturday at 8 p.m.
Magrath opened up the Zones tournament was a 98-71 win over the Winston Churchill Buldogs, with the three leading seniors on the team topping the 20-point mark. Bennett had 26 points, while teammates McMahon and Hansen each had 23.
The win set Magrath up to play against longtime rival Cardston, as Gallup predicted. Unfortunately, for the Zeniths, the Cougars came out strong and won 93-69.
“We opened with a very, very poor first quarter. Cardston came out and shot the lights out. It was like there was a lid on our basket, we couldn’t score,” said Gallup about the 26-8 score after the first quarter.
In the 4A boys consolation semifinals, Magrath defeated the Raymond Comets 111 to 88 ending their season.
Austin Bennett of the Zeniths blew up for 40 points in a high-scoring game that the Zeniths led from start to finish. Bennett’s 40 was aided by 25 points from McMahon, 18 from Hansen and 11 from Ben Dow.
Raymond’s Jaxon Davison scored 21 points, followed by 15 from Aiden Harker, 13 from Rhett Ellingson and 12 apiece from Boomer Heggie and Brock Dewsbery.
In the end, the Comets came up short and finished their season early in fourth place, one spot below head coach Todd Heggie’s goal of a provincial berth.
Five Raymond Comet seniors are now forced to hang up their red and white jerseys for good.