When the teams took the SunDome court for Saturday's Class 1B boys basketball championship, anyone could see St. John-Endicott didn't have anyone the stature of Sunnyside Christian's 6-foot-6 Steven Broersma or 6-foot-5 Kevin De Jong.

By the end of the Knights' 49-43 victory, though, it was their guards who were standing tall. Because they were the difference in the game.

With Broersma saddled with foul trouble and De Jong shackled by the Eagles' stingy defenders, the game was ultimately won by guys like guards Steven Bosma (11 points), Tim DeVries (3-for-4 from the field) and Ryker Van Belle (7 points, 6 rebounds, four steals) and forward Trevor Wagenaar, whose 11 points included a 14-footer that ended a 6-0 SJE run and a 15-foot fallaway that broke a fourth-quarter tie.

"The game plan was to try to work the ball inside to our big guys," said Van Belle. "But they were playing tough 'D' inside. They're a tough team."

And, on offense, the Eagles were also taking the ball right at Broersma.

"That was the plan going in. To win, we knew we had to get their big guys in foul trouble," said Eagle senior Warren Miller, whose 23-point, nine-rebound game confirmed his selection as tournament MVP. "We went inside after 51 (Broersma), hoping to get him on the bench with fouls."

They achieved their desired result -- two quick fouls on the Knights' 6-6 scoring star in the first quarter, a third before halftime and a fourth early in the final period. And with 6:14 remaining in the game, when Broersma picked up foul No. 4, the score was tied 34-34.

On the Knights' next possession, Wagenaar found himself in a sticky situation 15 feet from the basket. "The (defensive) guy was in my face, the shot clock was running down," he said. "I had to do something."

So he elevated for a fadeaway that found nothing but net. A half-minute later, Bosma made an assist dish inside to De Jong for a basket and a four-point lead, but Miller came right back with back-to-back scores to knot the game again. It was 40-40 when, with only 1:45 remaining, the 5-9 Van Belle found himself in the lane among the long-limbed tall guys, and went up -- but not to shoot. Instead, he hit a perfectly timed pass to Broersma for an easy layup.

"That was pretty big," Van Belle said. "That got the momentum going back our way."

It also gave the Knights a lead they never relinquished. They made six of eight free throws down the stretch to put the game away.

And those guards? The little guys?

Sunnyside Christian coach Dean Wagenaar grinned at the question.

"They were huge."