The game never seems to disappoint when the Central Cyclones and Peacock Toilers lock horns on a basketball court and Tuesday night was no different.

Peacock senior Jett Kowalchuk hit a three-point shot in the final seconds to force the game to overtime, but Central exerted their control in the extra frame to win 81-67 in the Moose Jaw High School Senior Boys Basketball League championship game at Sask Polytech.

“I thought Peacock played really well, so congratulations to them, they played hard all game, they hit shots when they needed to hit shots, it was a good game,” said Central head coach Ryan Boughen. “I thought we played our best in the five minutes of overtime, that was the most settled we played all game and it ended the way we wanted it to end.”

Riley Seaborn led the Cyclones in the win with 19 points, including six in the overtime period to seal the win. Kyle Boughen added 14 points, Fharis Ebet chipped in with 12 points and Jaxson Brownell had 10 points.

Central features a high-powered offence, but it was their defence that ended up being the difference on Tuesday. The Cyclones were able to keep the Toilers in check for much of the night until the fourth quarter.

“We just had to control the ball, slow the game down and hit our shots, and grind on defence because defence wins championships,” said Ebet on the Cyclones' game plan going in.

They executed that well in the first half to take a 34-26 lead at halftime. The third quarter was slow going on the offensive end for both Peacock and Central, but the Toilers were able to close the gap down six points heading into the fourth.

With the game on the line, the Toilers came up big, scoring 25 points to tie the game and force the extra period.

“Central can shoot the lights out, so we didn't want to get into a running game with them, so we were trying to keep it close,” said Peacock head coach Troy Setter. 

All night, Peacock battled and never allowed the Cyclones to pull away. Kowalchuk was held to just two points through much of the game for the Toilers, but he came through when the team needed him, draining a three-pointer to tie the game in the final seconds.

“Resilience, they put a lot of pressure on Jett all game, he had to battle through bodies all game and for him to make that shot at the end shows the kind of player and person he is,” said Setter. “It doesn't phase him, that’s what Jett does and we knew he was going to hit that.”

This is the third straight league title for Central and it's also the seventh title in the last eight years for the Cyclones.

Both teams will now turn their attention to securing spots at Hoopla this weekend as Peacock and Central are both hosting 4A Boys regional championships on Friday and Saturday.

Boughen said coming through in this intense environment of the city final will only help them moving forward, “This is the fifth final that we've played in this year, our grade 11s have played in a provincial final last year and one thing about them, this year, they've found ways to win when the game is on the line,” he said. “We've got to play better, but we’re in good shape.”

Setter is also confident that the Toilers will be better coming out of their battle with Central, “Central is a great team and our guys proved tonight that they can play with a great team, so hopefully they keep that confidence going forward and have a good regional.”

Vanier will also be playing in a 4A regional this weekend. Click here for the full schedules.