ELK POINT – After accepting the St. Paul Athletics Association (SPAA) senior boys basketball banner with his team last Wednesday, F. G. Miller Jr./Sr. High School’s basketball coach Brett Lindquist said he’s “been trying to win" the banner since he was one of the basketball team’s players back in 2010, “and it took some time. You just have to be patient.”
The F. G. Miller Crusaders defeated the team from Saddle Lake, 54-36 in the championship game on Feb. 28.
Patience wasn’t all it took for the third-year coach this season. Both the senior high and junior high teams had players drop out at the beginning of the season, leaving both teams shorthanded. However, because FGM is a 1A school this year, with less than 100 students in grades 10 through 12, they were allowed to add Grade 9 students to the senior team’s roster, ending up with a team consisting of three Grade 9 students, three Grade 12 students and two Grade 10s, Lindquist says.
The combined team “really worked out well,” with the additional players getting even more action on the court. “The Grade 9s still play on the eight-member junior team as well, so they have practices or games about five days a week.”
The successful combination saw a success-filled season carry on to the championship game where FGM’s lead on the scoreboard went from a 5-6 deficit early in the first quarter to 14-6, then to 35-14 by half time and 48-23 by the end of the third quarter, with both teams playing at full power to the point that Lindquist says, “It was electric in there.”
One of the Saddle Lake players showed tremendous skill at three-point shots that Lindquist says were “the focus of their game plan” and definitely a force to be reckoned with, adding steadily to his team's side of the scoreboard. But the Crusaders stayed ahead, with a final score of 54-36.
Players show leadership
Jennifer Germain, whose son Zack is one of the Grade 9 students playing on both teams, says Lindquist has had some help with coaching both teams. Grade 12 students Marcel Jenkins and Casey Warawa “haven’t just been showing their skills on the basketball court, they have been showing their leadership on the bench too… dedicating this basketball season to coaching the junior high boys' team who are also ranked number one in SPAA, never having lost a game this season.
“At tournaments this year, you could see those Grade 12 boys on the court playing their game but also coaching up the Grade 9 players on the court with encouragement and involvement in the plays. They have been skilled players, great leaders and have shown outstanding commitment to the F. G. Miller basketball program this year."
