It was oh so close to the final four at the OFSAA 'A' boys basketball championships for the Mitchell Blue Devils.
Mitchell led after the first, second and third quarters and were up by eight at one point in their quarterfinal, but the Blue Devils were edged 60-56 by Peterborough Kenner at the tournament in Welland.
"It was everything I expected," Blue Devils coach A.J. Moses told StratfordToday. "I really thought we had a chance going in. We just couldn't close it out."
Moses said one of the Kenner players found a hot hand, hitting shots even while double teamed, helping them to the win.
Some tough calls haunted the Blue Devils, also, including a made three point shot from Blake Redfern that was cancelled by an out of bounds call by the referees, according to the coach. Another free throw was cancelled out when someone was judged to have stepped over the line. Moses said a field goal was also missed on the scoreboard by the scorers table but the referees would not allow it.
"I never blame the ref's but it was six points taken away and that would have been the game."
Moses said Redfern's three point shot was right in front of the Mitchell bench and he was clearly in bounds.
Redfern led the Blue Devils, who were ranked seventh at the tournament, with 14 points and Will Korver added 10. Both of those players had three fouls in the first half and sat for good chunks of time. Korver fouled out in the final quarter.
"It just wasn't meant to be," the coach said.
The coach said they played nine or 10 players each game, a testament to their depth.
Kenner, ranked second, went on to the championship game but were defeated by Belleville Nicholson, their Central Ontario Secondary School Association rivals, ranked fourth.
Mitchell loses three starters to graduation, including Korver and the Murray twins, Luke and Kale.
The team won the Huron-Perth and WOSSAA titles. It was the first appearance at the provincials for the boy's basketball team since 2011.
"It was tough to lose. Especially when you did everything that you could. There was some tears. It's the last competitive basketball game for some of them."
Moses said the team are a family, and his eight-year-old son, never too far away at the Blue Devils games, considers them his heroes.
Moses has coached a lot of the players since Grade 1 through the town's rep program, so when they graduate, it's a big moment.
"It's always tough for me," he said.
