The W.H. Croxford Cavaliers Senior Boys basketball team finished their undefeated 2023-24 season with a 94-78 win over the rival George McDougall Mustangs, securing a coveted first-round bye in the upcoming playoffs.
The final win of a dominant regular season came on a night when the Cavaliers celebrated their five graduating players. To mark the occasion, the Croxford gymnasium was packed with families and fans from both Airdrie schools who had come to watch the fate of the league's first seed be decided.
The Mustangs and Cavaliers had been tied for first place all season, until a loss to the 1-3 Chestermere Lakers on February 7 dropped the Mustangs to second place.
Like their previous game against the Cochrane Cobras, the Cavaliers went into half trailing the Mustangs 53-49.
“We were really sloppy in the first half and had a few mental errors [and] missed a few easy layups,” said Cavaliers assistant coach Michael Head. The Mustangs outplayed the Cavaliers under the basket and scooped up offensive rebound after offensive rebound.
However, a frenzied home crowd kept the energy inside the Croxford gymnasium at a high. Fans in the student section hollered with every Cavaliers made shot and jeered at any passing Mustangs players after a failed attempt at a basket.
The crowd noise fed into the game intensity, which as one spectating student admitted was unlike anything they had seen. “I’ve never seen the atmosphere in here like this,” said one student.
After a quick Cavaliers comeback in the third quarter the momentum had completely and permanently flipped. The Mustangs would never see the lead again after they lost it close to the end of the third quarter.
The Cavaliers comeback was led by their seniors, chiefly Benson Thomas, who finished the night with 49 points. At a Mustangs time out in the fourth quarter, with the Cavaliers up 82-72, MVP chants broke out for Thomas from the student section.
For a game that had the trappings of a competitive slugfest between two heavyweight contenders, the final few minutes of the ball game felt strangely uncompetitive. Both teams subbed out their starters and let the clock run out on a game that finished with a nearly 20 point Croxford lead.
After the game, Head said that the Cavaliers coaching staff was happy they were able to turn it around after a slower first half. “We were down a few at half and came back and rallied,” he said. “Overall we were super happy with the team's perseverance.”
The win gave the Cavaliers a perfect regular season record and meant they finished the 2023-24 season with a point differential of 169, the best in the league.
Aside from that, the Cavaliers earned a first-round playoff bye that will see them placed directly in the league semi-finals. It’s yet to be determined who Croxford’s opponent will be in their semi-final matchup, but the game will be played February 29.
