We got up early and really maintained it the whole way through. We got out to a 12-2 start and built on it from there, but it was never comfortable - we played out top seven or eight players a good chunk of the way.

Good teams like to play other good teams. When I started to ask people about this (tournament) at the provincials last year, people were signing up then.

It was depressing. We just came up against a team that was shooting the lights out. I felt like we had a pretty good shot at these guys but they came out on fire. Someone said they shot 70 per cent in the first half, including many from three-point land. It was their day. It sure wasn't ours.

He started at point guard for us at the beginning of the year and this is really the first tournament where he was at full strength. He also had some spectacular open-court steals in that middle game.

Beau was the guy who stepped up in that game, and he had a stellar tournament.

I am aware that humans believe they are the sole owners of this curse, but all creatures love, Dieter. Love is our one shared madness, our one shared burden. All creatures are driven against sense by it, and even the lowest ant will die madly for her queen.