Zeniths gut out South Zone win

By Lethbridge Herald on March 10, 2025.

Herald photo by Justin Seward Magrath Zeniths Joe Wilde attempts to push by Talan Ralph of the Raymond Comets during the 4A South Zone Basketball Championship gold medal game on Saturday at 1st Choice Savings Centre.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Magrath Zeniths gutted out a 78-74 win over the Raymond Comets to capture the 4A South Zone Basketball Championships varsity boys banner on Saturday night at 1St Choice Savings Centre.

“A lot of relief to be honest,” said Zeniths head coach Chris Steed.

“When you have a good season, a lotta times wins are more of a relief, but I’m gonna take the time now to celebrate it. Ours guys gutted that one out.”

Steed thought it wasn’t the best game they played.

“That’s a really, really good Raymond team that had a really good game plan,” said Steed.

“We were able to make stops and get points in key moments throughout the game. But yeah I mean not our best effort.”

He expected the game to be close.

“I mean (at) this stage you never know what’s going to happen with high school basketball and so we’re just lucky to come out of here with a win,” said Steed.

Max Smith said it’s amazing.

“We came here last year and we lost (in) this game in overtime. So it was really good to win one.”

Smith thought factors like the limited turnovers by the team, going hard to the glass and not giving the Comets a lot of second chance points were keys to success.

“Just sticking to the game plan because our coach got us a really good game plan,” said Smith.

The Zeniths defeated Medicine Hat 97-81 in one semi-final, while Raymond took out LCI 85-72 in the other on Thursday.

Cardston defeated Medicine Hat 84-79 in the third place game.

Magrath now looks toward a regional tournament.

The Zeniths plan to study film on both themselves and their opponents to prepare.

“There was a lotta things we did wrong tonight (Saturday) that we need correct, and so our coaching staff’s gonna work really hard at that over the next couple days,” said Steed.

The Zeniths host Chestermere on Friday at 7 p.m. and the winner of that game plays the winner of the Strathcona and St. Francis  in the South Regional final on Saturday at Magrath High School.

Raymond will play in the Calgary Regional while Cardston will play in the Edmonton Regional.

Each of the four regional winners play in a final four format in Calgary at provincials a week later.