From chaos to championship: How Sammy G’s boys’ basketball team found purpose & beat the odds in 2025

By Pablo Medina

The city-champion Samuel-Genest Laser’s 2024-25 senior boys’ basketball season featured a great sports story of an underdog defying the odds to come out on top, but coach Kris Charette is betting that it’ll be remembered just as much as a pivotal moment in his players’ lives when they think back on it years down the road.

Twenty years removed from its last top-tier national capital high school senior boys’ basketball title, the Laser’s drought seemed to destined to continue when their coach quit midway through the season.

Charette was fed up. His talented team had just lost by its largest margin all season to a 1-4 opponent, but the defeat was symptomatic of a bigger problem. He knew the Laser were an immensely skilled group, but motivation and discipline was lacking. The situation was not improving, and he saw no alternative but to step back.

But Charette is also a big believer in the impact sports can make in shaping character, opening doors and creating a sense of belonging, so he eventually peeked back in to give the team a second chance, and he found players ready to face the issues head-on.

“After I stepped away, the guys had what we now call ‘the hostage situation’ — a four-hour team meeting,” Charette recounts. “I’d step in for a few minutes, plant some seeds, then let them talk it out. From there, we blossomed.”

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The episode was a turning point, and after four hours, the players emerged with one simple conclusion.

“We said, ‘If you want to be part of this team, you have to prove it’,” recalls Grade 11 player Jordan Burume.

The players started arriving early to practices, there was more determination, and most importantly, more focus and discipline among the team. Their dose of tough love had kicked in.

“Coach is a dictator. You know, his way or the highway,” smiles the Laser’s Michael Niyoncuti. “But he pushed us more to do it because he wants to see you doing better as a person, not just as a basketball player.”

As a transformation was taking place away from the Xs and Os of basketball, on-court success followed slowly but surely. The Laser twice lost by one basket to bring their season total to four by that minimal margin, but the 3-5 squad’s fortunes turned come the playoffs.

In the ‘AA’ quarter-finals, Samuel-Genest turned the tables and took down 8-1 Cairine Wilson 71-70. Then the Laser topped Gisèle-Lalonde 47-25 in the semis to setup a championship game against the vaunted Ashbury Colts.

OFSAA silver medallists at the 2024 provincials in Ottawa, Ashbury entered the city final with a perfect 10-0 record, including a pair of one-point victories over Genest.

But in the big game next door to Samuel-Genest at Collège La Cité, it was the Laser who took down their east-side neighbours from up the hill in Rockcliffe 59-54.

“It was amazing,” reflects the Laser’s Fazile Dieu Mercie. “Everyone sees Sammy G as the underdogs. People don’t really know who we are. But we showed up, played with heart, and won that game. That was huge.”

The Laser drew extra inspiration from their earlier 41-40 and 40-39 defeats to the Colts.

“Having lost to them twice already, both times by just one point, we were motivated,” underlines Burume. “We knew we were capable of beating them – it wasn’t an impossible feat. With that in mind, we went into the game locked in, determined to win, and we pulled it off.”

The Laser drew inspiration beyond the fact they were facing a top rival. There was their school’s own drought of two decades, and also, in the last dozen years, only two of the 35 city titles awarded for schools of different sizes had been won by French schools (both by Louis-Riel, in 2017 and 2020).

“We represent a French community,” notes the Laser’s Elie Menda. “Beating Ashbury wasn’t just about the win. It was a matter of pride.”

With the city title, Samuel-Genest seized the lone national capital berth in the OFSAA ‘AA’ championships for medium-sized schools in North Bay.

The Laser opened with a 53-45 victory over host West Ferris and then topped Toronto’s George S. Henry 59-50 before bowing out 63-57 in the quarter-finals to the eventual silver medallists, St. Mother Teresa of Scarborough.

For coach and players alike, the Mar. 3-5 tournament was an experience of a lifetime.

“Winning the city championship was great, but OFSAA… Less than 1% of students get the chance to go, so for our guys, it was a big deal,” highlights Charette. “We were rooming together, banking memories, playing high-level high school ball against the best teams and programs across Ontario.”

The Laser built many great basketball memories this year, but it meant much more than that to Charette.

“This season was really touching for me. It reminded me why I started coaching and why I chose this team,” explains the former Algonquin College player. “Through conversations about character, work ethic, and accountability, both I and the players rediscovered our purpose.

“It made me fall in love with the game and the process again.”