The Corner Brook High Titans slipped from first to fifth when the Newfoundland and Labrador Basketball Association released the second set of rankings for the Hall of Fame Cup (Elite Eight) Basketball Championships.
The Titans find themselves ranked fifth, with Holy Heart of Mary High School in St. John’s deservedly moving up to No. 1 and understandably so because they are considered the powerhouse in the provincial high school boys’ basketball setup this year, with a number of Canada Games athletes in the lineup.
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The Hall of Fame Cup will take place Feb. 16-18 at the Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Centre in St. John’s, with the top eight teams in the province battling on the hardwood.
The first set of rankings had the Titans listed as No. 1, but Titans coach Jim Hughes said at the time that a true picture of the rankings would be clearer after his team had played some games on the east coast.
The Titans finally made a trip to the east coast, after the first rankings were announced, posting a 2-1 round-robin record and bowing out to Holy Heart in the semifinal by a 100-58 score at the Waterford Legend City Classic hosted by Waterford Valley High.
Hughes said fifth in the rankings is where he felt his team should be ranked and his team’s record at the Waterford Legend City Invitational confirmed that he felt the team’s ranking would change after the team had competed against teams from the east coast.
He says the Titans can give anybody ranked 2-8 a good game of basketball, so it should be an interesting Hall of Fame Cup.
“I think everybody can beat each other any day, depending on what kind of game you’re going to have,” Hughes said.
With a great effort and a few bounces he figures his team could upset Holy Heart, but he gives credit where credit is due and he says it will take a strong effort for anybody to knock off Holy Heart, which has a deep lineup staring down the rest of the field.
“Holy Heart is that much stronger than everybody else, absolutely,” he said.
