The Raymond Comets after winning the BRIT in Saskatoon on January 14, 2023. (Photo: Amy Ralph)

By Justin Goulet

Raymond High School Comets win prestigious basketball tournament

Jan 30, 2023 | 9:44 AM

RAYMOND, AB – The Raymond High School Comets are revelling in their success.

The varsity basketball team recently won the BRIT event in Saskatchewan. On Saturday, January 14, 2023, the young team defeated the Walter Murray Marauders 74-65 in the final of the Bedford Road Invitational Tournament, commonly known as the BRIT, in Saskatoon.

Comets head coach Ryan Baldry said, “Raymond is a small town that a lot of people might not know about, but if you’re in the basketball scene in Alberta, then you’re aware of our town and the history of basketball in Raymond. Raymond has had a lot of success over the years in basketball.”

Upon winning the BRIT, Baldry said he received numerous messages of support from members of the Southern Alberta community.

He said, “Our community is certainly supportive of our basketball program and our kids that our playing, and I know we had hundreds of people from Raymond watching.”

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Baldry commented, “It’s wonderful to have the support of our community.”

THE BRIT

The head coach said the BRIT is “a really cool tournament.”

“We got out there and you play against the top teams out of Saskatchewan and some good teams [in] British Columbia, and our boys were able to play some of their best basketball of the year and come out with a really exciting championship win. It was a great experience.”

The BRIT is a tournament that began in 1968 with only schools in Saskatoon invited to compete. Eventually, it expanded to include teams from across Saskatchewan. In 1972, for the first time, schools from outside of the province were invited to participate. Since then, the tournament has grown to include 12 schools each year and has featured teams from across Canada, as well as the United States. In 2004, Saskatoon hosted the first non North American team at the event, with the participation of Scots College from Sydney, Australia. The event draws basketball scouts from many colleges and universities.

Baldry said this year’s Comets roster, comprised of boys in grades 10 through 12, saw many returning athletes for this season.

“We were very young last year,” he said, noting in the past that his team has struggled to find wins, but he expects the victory at the BRIT will help the team going forward.

Baldry noted, “I think it was just a good experience for these kids to get a taste of what it takes to win and they kind of leveled up their game a bit in terms of the defensive end and then got some success from that.”

He added, “I’m hoping going forward that our players recognize what it takes to win basketball games, the effort it takes and the teamwork it takes, and the level of focus that it takes in a game to win, and can start playing more consistently with that [competitive nature] and that level of focus every game we play, and I’m certainly hoping it carries forward through the rest of the season.”

Players have been on a break for the last couple of weeks due to student-athletes’ diploma exams, but Baldry said they will be busy over the next few weeks as the regular season continues.

“We’ve had our break and now it gets busy, and we’re just excited to see some of that play that we had out at BRIT hopefully carry into this big stretch of games for us over the next few weeks.”

High school basketball rankings are available at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association website.

Read more local sports at Lethbridge News Now.