The Sarnia Shamrock Major Bantam team has had a successful season after competing in several tournaments over the past months.

In January at the London Gold Medal Tournament the team went to the finals after defeating the Kitchener Vipers 38 - 41 in their first game.  In the second game of the tournament it took double overtime to decide the winner against the home town team Gold Medal but the Shamrocks came out on top with a final score of 65 - 57.  In the medal round they went up against home town rivals the Sarnia Valhalla team.  With two of their post players out due to injuries the Shamrocks worked hard but were defeated with a final score of 47 - 32.  It was a great start to the season bring home the Silver Medal!

In February the team were back in London to compete in the London Ramblers Tournament.  In the First game it was a rematch against the London Gold Medal team - in their previous tournament the Shamrocks defeated the Gold Medal in double overtime - this game it was a close match with the Gold Medal taking the win with a final score of 48 - 41.  In the second game of the tournament the Shamrocks defeated the Tecumseh Saints with a score of 52 - 24.  In the third and what would be their final game the Shamrocks fell to the the #7 Ranked team in Ontario the Riverside Falcons with a final score 63 - 45. With a 1 win 2 loss record the team was eliminated from the medal round.
 

The Shamrocks competed in a second tournament in February at home in the Sarnia Valhalla Tournament.  In their first game it was against their rivals from London the London Gold Team.  Both teams were 1 and 1 against each other going into this tournament and the Shamrocks came out strong and played one of their best games of the year to take a 60 - 39 win.  In their second game the boys came out flat and took a loss against the tournament host the Sarnia Valhalla team with a final score of 62 - 36.  Going 1 - 1 the team headed for the Bronze Medal game where they went up against the London Ramblers.  The boys played hard and came up with a well deserved victory defeating the Ramblers with a final score of  68 - 65.
 

Individual stats for these tournaments is not as important as the teamwork that is being shown by the group of kids that are getting more and more comfortable playing together in preparation for our  Ontario basketball championships at the end of April.  As a team the Shamrocks are now ranked 21st in Ontario which is quite an accomplishment coming from a smaller centre as they are ahead of both London Teams with a record of 13 wins and 5 losses.
 

With their own tournament cancelled (due to lack of officials) the team will travel to Hamilton to compete in the Hamilton Blessed Sacrament tournament on April 4 - 5.  Their first game is against the #15 ranked team from Toronto.  Also in their pool is the host team Hamilton Blessed Sacrament and the Guelph CYO Knights.