Auburn Eagles Claim Triple Crown in Nova Scotia High School Basketball!
HALIFAX, NS–The Auburn Drive Senior boys basketball team completed the sweep of elite level Championships for High School Basketball in Nova Scotia by dropping defending provincial champ Dartmouth High 81-76 in NSSAF Division 1 Championship game. The Eagles also claimed the regular season crown for Metro League basketball by virtue of their 11-1 record as well as capturing their Regional banner defeating Citadel 101-90 to earn a berth and #1 seed for the NSSAF Championships.
Coach Sparks spoke of the teams ambitions saying “our season goal was to make it to provincials and then take care of business once we got there.”
And that’s what the Eagles did behind the leadership of senior guard and leading scorer Davonte Provo (St FX Commit). The team steam rolled Memorial in the first game of provincials 96-38. In the second game Auburn played Dartmouth area rival, with the schools being 4.8kms from each other this set up a heated game between “friends”. In a very a very intense game the Eagles squeaked out an 83-80 win.
“The Prince Andrew and Dartmouth games were were both tight games and coming down the stretch our guys found a way to get it done, I think it had a lot to do how they prepared for these types of games all year. We keep practice very competitive”.
Auburn was and is a team that knows how to win as they went 37-1 on the season with their only loss being to Citadel while playing without senior forward Jordan Crawley. The Eagles won every tournament they were in during the 2012/13 campaign.
The game was not without drama, when Davonte Provo went down from a blow to the head with just over 4 minutes remaining in a tight game, Auburn’s title run looked bleak.
“The gym got silent as he did not get up right away and he needed the assistance of the EMS to help him to our bench. I pulled the guys together and told them to get it done for your leader as he has done it for you all year”.
Johneil Johnson (2015) the teams second leading scorer and Jordan Crawley (2013) took over and led us to the victory after Dartmouth tied the score with 3 minutes remaining. Clutch free throws by Johnson and strong paint play by Crawley is what did offensive work in front of strong team defensive play.
Coach Sparks credited his entire team for their success and pointed out their commitment to their individual roles for such a great year. “I think it was a total team effort and we never had selfishness on this team, we were a team and I was just proud to be a part of it”
Interesting Fact: Auburn, Dartmouth and Prince Andrew who finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd are separated by a mere 17kms.
