The Inverness Ravens won the Mini Coal Bowl tournament held in New Waterford on the weekend. Members of the team include, from left: (front) Henry Ryan, Cormac MacQuarrie, Elliott Smith, Jordan Blackwood, Jacob Shaw, John Shaw; (back) coach David Ryan, coach Neil MacQuarrie, tournament MVP Aydin Copley, Waylon MacNeil, Riley MacPherson, Lucas McDaniel, Bryer Holliday, Nash Holliday, coach Phil Blackwood.
May 7th, 2025
-by Bill Dunphy
Could an Inverness team someday compete at New Waterford’s prestigious Coal Bowl Invitational basketball tournament?
If the current group of young U11 basketball players keep at it, then they just might achieve that goal.
The Inverness Ravens went undefeated in the round-robin of the Mini Coal Bowl tournament on the weekend and then defeated John Bernard Croak Elementary Cougars 39-29 in Sunday’s B-division championship game.
“Throughout our season the boys worked hard, listened to their coaches and were excellent teammates,” said Inverness co-coach Phil Blackwood, who shares the duty with David Ryan and Neil MacQuarrie.
“They started to gel as a team and put ‘we’ before ‘me’, which led them to being a team based on looking for a good shot by sharing the basketball and helping each other out on defence. Even if one guy was beat off the dribble he had a teammate stepping in to help which led to very few open shots for their opponents. We’re really proud of the boys” he said.
The Ravens kicked off the tournament on Saturday with a 38-23 win over the John Bernard Croak Elementary Cougars.
Waylon MacNeil was the player of the game and on Sunday he was the winner of the tournament coaches award for Inverness.
MacNeil, Aydin Copley and Jordan Blackwood each had 8 points to lead the Ravens. Also scoring: Nash Holliday and Lucas McDaniel, 4 each; Bryer Holliday, Elliott Smith and Cormac MacQuarrie, 2 each.
Later that evening, Copley had a 10-point game to pace Inverness to a 35-20 win over one of the host teams, the Greenfield Elementary Magic.
Also scoring: Nash Holliday, 8; McDaniel, 5; Bryer Holliday, Riley MacPherson, Blackwood, Henry Ryan, Smith, and Jacob Shaw, 2 each. McDaniel was named the player of the game.
The Ravens faced the North Highlands Elementary Huskies on Sunday morning, finishing the round-robin with a 40-16 victory.
Nash Holliday had 10 points to lead the Ravens. Also scoring: Blackwood, 8; Ryan, 6; McDaniel and MacPherson, 4 each; Copley, Bryer Holliday, MacQuarrie and John Shaw, 2 each. Henry Ryan was named the player of the game.
And in the championship game Sunday afternoon, Copley had 11 and Blackwood had 10 as the Inverness Ravens defeated the Cougars 39-29 in their rematch.
Nash Holliday, who had 4 points, was the player of the game in the final. Also scoring: Bryer Holliday and MacNeil, also with 4 each; MacQuarrie, Jacob Shaw and Lucas MacDonald, 2 each.
