It started as a wonderful way to end the high-school boys basketball season and shine a little extra light on the sport, locally.

It ended as one of the wildest games that the Sudbury Arena has witnessed this year - which is saying something given the style of play of both the Sudbury Five and Sudbury Wolves.

In the end, Team Mousseau bested Team Shallow 122-117 - in double overtime - and not before the eventual winners overcame a six point deficit with less than ten seconds to play at the tail end of the first overtime session.

After playing to a 92-92 draw through four quarters of play, the teams looked ready to bring an entertaining afternoon to an end, with Shallow up 112-106 and only a handful of ticks remaining on the clock.

But Adam Scott (Lo-Ellen) sailed a bomb from just over half-court and a steal on the in-bound found its way to Cody Osawamick (Bishop Carter), who somehow hit an off-balanced jumper for his second basket of the day to prolong the contest through another four minutes of play.

"Honestly, that was one of the craziest shots that I've seen, heaving up the ball from probably the logo - and then the second shot was even crazier," said Macdonal-Cartier forward Dax Winch, who chipped in with 15 points of his own for the winners.

"I don't think a single person here expected that to happen," he continued. "It was insane."

"Adam hit that shot and I was thinking: we're up three; we should be fine," recalled Hayden Robert, one of two players from Collège Notre-Dame on Team Shallow (Logan MacIntyre was the other).

"Then, honestly, I didn't even see much of what happened. There was a turnover and it went to the corner."

With nine points to his name, Robert acknowledged that putting the ball in the basket is but a small element of how he tries to contribute on the court.

"I know that this isn't common, but I actually prefer doing the dirty work and getting rebounds and playing inside," said Robert. "Even though I am not as big as some of the other guys, I still get more rebounds than most people."

"I know my way around the rim and where the ball is going to be," he continued. "I feel like I did a good job with that."

The Senior Boys High-School All-Star Basketball game was the second similar event hosted in the last month at the Sudbury Arena, with the Basketball Super League (BSL) having hosted their contest in the nickel city as well earlier this month.

While the overall skill level is clearly quite different, there was, interestingly enough, a greater intensity to the SDSSAA contest that also differentiated the two games.

"I have a feeling that the other guys (BSL all-stars) just wanted to have fun," suggested Hayden Robert. "We wanted to win. I know a lot of these guys, so it's like playing against your own guys."

"Everyone knows each other, which makes for good competition," added Robert. "We know each other's moves, so it's harder to get by people."

In the end, players were as excited as the fans on hand, recognizing that the foundation may have been laid for an annual event that could easily grow and prosper.

"Just playing with a lot of talented guys in a lot of fun," stated Winch. "It's a great group of guys, for sure. Everyone is there to compete and have fun. I just wanted to go in there and move the ball and attack the rim, get boards."

"Everyone on the court could score the ball," Winch continued. "It was a great game."

Team Mousseau (coach Jeff Mousseau - Bishop Carter)
Adam Scott - Lo-Ellen - 27 pts
Quin Mazzuchin - Lo-Ellen - 26 pts
Owen Turner - Lockerby - 18 pts
Graham Binks - Lockerby - 2 pts
Brady Trudeau - St Charles - 4 pts
Brandon Trudeau - St Charles - 4 pts
Félix Aubin - Hanmer - 5 pts
Kaleb Dupuis - Hanmer - 6 pts
Alex Lynds - Bishop Carter - 3 pts
Dax Winch - Macdonald-Cartier - 15 pts
Max Aziz - Confederation - 2 pts
Josh Paredes - Lively - 6 pts
Cody Osawamick - Bishop Carter - 5 pts

Team Shallow (coach Darcey Shallow - Lasalle)
Tyrone Johnson - Lasalle - 23 pts
Sylas Asare-Corbiere - Lasalle - 9 pts
Logan MacIntyre - Notre-Dame - 12 pts
Hayden Robert - Notre-Dame - 9 pts
Greyson Seifert - Horizon - 8 pts
Phoenix Marks - St Benedict - 13 pts
Caleb Giroux - Horizon - 11 pts
Jack Denomme - St Benedict - 8 pts
Antwon Baptiste - Sudbury Secondary - 21 pts
Chris Eaton-Boehm - Sudbury Secondary - 2 pts
Caleb Lalonde - Champlain - 2 pts
Ace Munyakazi - Sacré-Coeur - 2 pts

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