DARTMOUTH, N.S.
The Pictou County Lightning U-18 AAA Men went undefeated at Basketball Nova Scotia provincials last weekend to bring home the gold.
Coached by Mark Stinson, Erik Nielsen and Kyle Fraser, the team defeated the Cumberland Classics 100-67, the Sou’West Bulldogs 88-70 and the Shelburne County Kings 99-88 at Prince Andrew High School in Dartmouth.
Sunday’s gold medal game was an intense rematch between Pictou County and Sou’West, with the Lightning emerging victorious 90-82.
Glen Cox was named Tournament MVP and Layton Williams was player of the game for the gold medal contest. Rhys Stevenson, Jordan Phee and Tyler Watters received player of the game nods for the Friday and Saturday games.
The coaches say despite having a short season, the team gelled fairly quickly and played with a lot of energy.
“Our intense team defence fueled our offence,” said Nielsen.
Six of the players – Cox, Williams, Stevenson, Joe MacCarron, Jonah MacEachern and Raine DeCoste – were on the Lightning U18 team that won AA gold at provincials last year.
This is the final Lightning season for Grade 12 players Cox, Williams, MacEachern, and Watters.
