Sixteen high school basketball teams from across the province continue play today in the 2020 Hall of Fame Cup (Elite Eight) tournament in metro St. John’s.
The competition began Friday with eight games, four in each of the girls and boys divisions, with the Holy Heart Highlanders — the No. 1 seeds in each competition — both winning.
In girls play, Holy Heart defeated Prince of Wales Collegiate 75-42; the defending Elite champion Waterford Warriors downed the Corner Brook Titans 70-50; the O’Donel Patriots of Mount Pearl got past the St. Kevin’s Mavericks (Torbay) 85-57; and the Holy Trinity Tigers (Torbay) beat the Gonzaga Vikings 70-55.
Boys results saw the Highlanders, who won the Elie Eight event last year, beat Corner Brook 85-75; the Elwood Lakers of Deer Lake edge the Exploits Eagles of Grand Falls-Windsor 62-60; Gonzaga prevail 99-69 over the Mount Pearl Huskies; and O’Donel down Waterford Valley 84-78.
Friday’s losers go head-to-head in games this morning, with the winners retaining hopes of advancing to Sunday playoffs and the defeated being relegated to consolation games.
The opening-round schedule was based on pre-tourney rankings (1. vs 8, 2 vs 7, and so on). Teams were ranked by a selection committee using results from league, tournament and exhibition games up to early February.
The rankings certainly held up to scrutiny. O’Donel’s win over Waterford Valley in the boys division was the only game Friday that saw a lower seed come away with a victory.
The bulk of the girls schedule has games at the Gonzaga gym, while the majority of boys contests are at the Holy Heart gym. However, Sunday morning semifinals will be played at the Provincial Training Centre in St. John’s (all games at 9 .a.m.), with the Sunday afternoon championship contests will be played at the Old Gym at Memorial University (1 p.m. female, 3 p.m., male).
This year’s Hall of Fame Cup was originally set to begin Feb. 7, but as with the case with many Newfoundland and Labrador Basketball Association tourneys, had to be rescheduled because of time lost during January’s winter snow storm and resulting states of emergency throughout the eastern part of the province.
2002 NLBA Hall of Fame Cup
Girls Division
Teams
(rankings in brackets)
1. Holy Heart of Mary
2. Waterford Valley
3. O’Donel
4. Holy Trinity
5. Gonzaga
6. St. Kevin’s
7. Corner Brook Regional
8. Prince of Wales Collegiate
Schedule
(All games at Gonzaga gym, except where noted in brackets)
Today
Game 5: 9 a.m., PWC vs Gonzaga
Game 6: 10:30 a.m., Corner Brook vs St. Kevin’s
Game 7: 12:30 p.m., Holy Heart vs O’Donel
Game 8: 2 p.m., Holy Trinity vs Waterford Valley
Game 9: 4 p.m., Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6
Game 10: 5:30 p.m., Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 7
Game 11: 7:30 p.m., Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 8
Sunday
9 a.m., Semi-Final, Winner 7 vs. Winner 11 (Parsons 1, NLSC)
9 a.m., Semi-Final, Winner 8 vs. Winner 10 (Parsons 2, NLSC)
1 p.m., Championship Game - Semifinal winners (Old MUN Gym)
———
Boys
Teams
(rankings in brackets)
1. Holy Heart of Mary
2. Gonzaga
3. O’Donel
4. Elwood
5. Exploits Valley
6. Waterford Valley
7. Mount Pearl
8. Corner Brook Regional
———
Schedule
Today
(All games at Holy Heart gym, except where noted in brackets)
Game 5: 9 a.m., Mount Pearl vs O’Donel (O’Donel gym)
Game 6: 10:30 a.m., Exploits Valley vs Corner Brook (O’Donel gym)
Game 7: 12:30 p.m., Gonzaga vs Elwood
Game 8: 2 p.m., Waterford Valley vs Holy Heart
Game 9: 4 p.m., Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6
Game 10: 5:30 p.m., Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 7
Game 11: 7:30 p.m., Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 8
Sunday
9 a.m., Semifinal - Winner 7 vs. Winner 10 (Crosby 1, NLSC)
9 a.m., Semifinal - Winner 8 vs. Winner 11 (Crosby 2, NLSC)
3 p.m., Championship Game - Semifinal winners (Old MUN Gym)
