The 2018-19 season is over for Olds High School's senior boys' basketball team.
It ended in a really tough way.
They were crushed by teams from Cochrane High School and WH Croxford High School in Airdrie during a two-game double knockout playoff series.
As far as the Cochrane game was concerned, "we were competing with them, we were right there, and then just not quite the depth quite as what the other teams have — and the height. Little things," head coach Kent Lorenz said.
"They beat us by, like, 45. But they beat everybody by 45 in our zone.
"So we did pretty well. And then we lost to Croxford. We were I think tied in the first quarter and (within) a couple of points at half and then they pulled away in the last piece of the game. They ended up beating us by 30."
Lorenz said one factor was the Spartans were missing one of their star players, Marshall Bloomfield, who was attending Red Deer College that day.
"It was pretty bad at the end. We just ran into foul trouble. We only had about I think six guys that could go," Lorenz said. "Yeah, it was pretty lopsided, but close for most of the game."
The problem, said Lorenz is OHS only has a student population of around 400 while those other schools have populations of 750 or more. So they have a larger pool of kids to draw from.
As a result, their players tend to be taller than the Spartans. And many play in club teams as well as high school games, so they're very experienced.
"We're short. When we played Cochrane their starting guard was 6 - 5. Our starting guard was 5 -9. And they can run and shoot and dunk," Lorenz said.
"It's a different ball game, right? Like our tallest guy's maybe 6 - 1 1/2. And they've got five guys that dunk. So it makes it tough, because any rebound that comes up, unless we get really lucky, it's tough getting any rebounds and if the kids can shoot and they're tall, they shoot right over you.
"The heart and determination and all that that our kids have can (only) go so far. That's usually what happens.
"By the time we get to the fourth quarter with some of these good teams they just run out of gas because they've had to work so hard just to try to keep in the game, right? It's hard, it's tough.
"If the team's about the same size as us, height-wise and stuff, we usually either win or we're competitive.
"But when you've got a starting lineup that goes against you (and) they all can dunk and we've got one guy who can touch the rim, it makes it tough in all facets of the game, even if you're trying to break a press, because they're tall and lanky and they take up space and you can't see over them.
"But we do the best we can. The kids, I'm proud of them. They all tried their best and just nothing I would change with their heart and dedication, so at the end of the day, that's all you can hope for," he said.
Lorenz loses six or seven Grade 12s to graduation this year, so his team will mostly consist of rookies next season.
"I'll only have four returning players for next year," he said.
"It'll be rookie, rookie. It's going to be tougher to compete next year with our team — unless we get some kids who move in. And you never know, some of the kids moving up from JV might play some club ball, or grow over the summer. You never know, right?"
