For the second straight year the NPSAA hit the road heading to Sault Ste. Marie to take part in the Guy Vetrie Invitational Basketball Tournament. Of the teams in the league that made the long trip to Northern Ontario was PHASE 1 Academy, Metro Prep and REDA Black and Red.

The four NPSAA clubs made up a quarter of the 16 team field, which included a number of local high school squads, renowned Ontario programs London Beal and Sarnia Northern, Durham region powerhouse Pickering Trojans and last year’s defending champs Mount Zion Mighty Warriors from North Carolina.

With games allotted from Thursday till Saturday night there was nonstop action over the three day tourney which saw its fair share of high flying slams, upsets and tightly contested matchups.

Day one began with the teams making the journey only to arrive just in time for their Round 1 matchups. All four squads took care of business rather handily against some of the local competition and it would set the tone for Round 2 which would begin early Friday morning.

With the first round of elimination beginning on day two, PHASE 1 would be the first of the four NPSAA teams to move onto the quarter-finals and as the day progressed Metro Prep, REDA Red and Black would follow suit. As all four programs advanced, half the representatives in Round 3 would be NPSAA members.

If the first three games were characterized by the ease by which each squad handled the competition, the quarter-final round on Friday night would prove to be where the tournament really got underway.

Feeling the opposition getting tight in its nighttime showdown was the league’s No.1 ranked team coming into the tournament and the second seed overall in the draw, REDA Red. The top ranked program had to deal with a tough Sarnia Northern squad that gave them a run for their money behind some strong guard play but clamping down Red narrowly escaped with a W to advance to the semi-finals.

As tough of a matchup Sarnia Northern would prove to be, no team was presented a more difficult task in Round 3 than PHASE 1 which had to do battle against Pickering. Falling behind by nine after the first half it looked like an early exit was in store, yet pulling from the experienced scoring prowess of Johneil Simpson and defence of Jelani Daniels and sophomore guard Adrian Mike the comeback was mounted. The final frame would see both teams trading the lead but ultimately PHASE 1 would come out on top by four to make their way into the semi-finals

The only thing preventing the NPSAA to have a clean sweep into the final four was the way the bracket broke down, as two clubs had to meet each other for a shot at the semi-finals when REDA Black took on Metro Prep. Both these teams had played previously in regular season meetings in some tightly contested matches, but the balanced REDA attack would pull away from their opposition late in the third behind a 14-2 run in the final three minutes of the quarter to all but seal a ticket into the semis finishing with a convincing 24 point victory.

With three teams in the Saturday semi-finals the NPSAA was guaranteed at least one representative in the championship game and a chance to finish the tournament with the gold, silver and bronze medals.

In one Round 4 matchup REDA Red would have to face off against PHASE 1. In yet another meeting of league members, it looked like Red would continue its regular season dominance over PHASE 1 with a commanding double-digit lead that was established early in the first half. Despite falling behind the scrappy PHASE 1 once again dug deep to attempt yet another response trailing by 19 points heading into the fourth quarter. Some effective defensive schemes and timely shooting would pull the comeback kids to within a point of REDA Red but time wasn’t on their side and they would fall short by one.

Over on the other side of the bracket REDA Black was left with the task of having to deal with the disciplined London Beal. Despite jumping out to an early lead the REDA allowed Beal to close the gap and entered halftime clinging to a three point advantage. Much like its quarter-final performance the well balanced attack of Black mounted a run right out of the gate and quickly the margin was widened to double-digits and unlike in the first half the lead was never squandered winning 63-48.

The victory ensured the NPSAA would walk away with both the gold and silver but to complete a sweep of the medals PHASE 1 would have to take care of London Beal in the bronze medal contest.

Reeling from its heartbreaking loss earlier in the day PHASE 1 came out pumping all cylinders to create a sizable lead early in the first half. Though Beal would cut into the lead to bring the game to within six points just before halftime, the spread would never come any closer the rest of the way as the interior play of D’Adrian Allen along with the regular productive scoring of Simpson carried PHASE 1 to a double-digit victory.

Locking up a bronze medal for the NPSAA was just a prelude to the all-REDA final where along with the tournaments gold medal the league No.1 overall seed was on the line.

It was evident early it would be an intense matchup of two high-octane teams who clearly had something to prove. Though these squads practice against one another on a daily basis there seemed to be no love lost between the REDA programs two teams. Players got after one another on the defensive end and looked to make posters out of helpless defenders with vicious attacks on the rim. With the crowd thoroughly entertained it came down to balance and defensive intensity that would prove to be the difference.

From the opening tipoff it was apparent the lower ranked REDA Black entered the game with a chip on its shoulder and something to prove to those who had them ranked below their program-mates they were the stronger of the two. Despite a spectacular offensive display from REDA Reds Shaquille Keith the balanced scoring of REDA Black led by Connor Wood and Abednego Lufile would prove to be too much in a convincing 78-59 win.

A successful sweep of the medals strengthened the NPSAA’s claim of possessing the strongest competition in the nation and only furthered the message that the academy route is the way of the future for serious basketball prospects.

Taking home tournament MVP honors was REDA Black’s Wood, while the NPSAA also made a sweep of the tournament’s First-Team All Stars as Kashrell Lawrence and Richard Audu of REDA Black, Keith and Chris Stanhope of REDA Red and PHASE 1’s Simpson were all named to the ros