With the regular season over, the Junior Boys Basketball League cranked it up a notch for the first round of playoffs this past weekend. With their gym booked for a Robotics competition, tournament host Vanier was thankful when Lake Trail school offered their gym facilities,
Local teams from G.P. Vanier, Highland and Mark Isfeld along with Carihi (Campbell River), Brooks (Powell River) and ADSS (Port Alberni) went head-to-head for one of four spots leading to the North Island finals this weekend in Parksville.
Tournament play was configured into two pools of three with all three local teams in action on the first day. On Friday Vanier beat Brooks, Isfeld clipped Carihi and in the final gamee of the night, Carihi dropped their second game of the day to Highland.
Saturday morning came early for Isfeld and Highland who locked horns with some excellent local talent laying it all on the line. Low post Nick Tancon led Highland in scoring but it wasn鈥檛 enough as Cole Hutchings and Joel Regehr teamed up for half their team鈥檚 points in a 50-38 Isfeld win.
Vanier met Port Alberni in the final game of round-robin play. The game was close through the first half and when three starters fouled out in the fourth quarter the Towhees had to dig down and play gritty ball to hold on for a 57-50 win. Jaron Piercy led the fourth-quarter charge with nine points.
On Saturday afternoon Port Alberni finished tournament play with a 52-39 win over Carihi, resulting in fifth and sixth place standings for the teams respectively. Isfeld鈥檚 balanced team approach went toe-to-toe with the short bench of Brooks. Seven players hit the score sheet for the Ice as they posted a 41-33 win over a resilient Brooks squad.
Starting guard Braydon Cochrane was out with a bad ankle so the Highlands Raiders took the floor against the Vanier Towhees with only six players dressed. The Raiders put in a valiant effort but Madison McRae and Piercy led Vanier to a 66-47 win.
With Highland, Vanier, Brooks and Isfeld all moving on, the final two games of the weekend decided seedings for the North Islands. As if missing a starting guard and having a short bench wasn鈥檛 bad enough, the Raiders now had to play back-to-back games as they moved on to play Brooks for third and fourth place. Drawing on the scoring of Nick Tancon (27 points) and the three-point wizardry of Trenton Cameron (who hit an amazing six treys), the Raiders dug down and found another gear as they triumphed 58-40.
The final game of the tournament pitted the two undefeated teams for first-place bragging rights. Both Mark Isfeld and G.P. Vanier had gone through the tournament with 3-0 records and tipped off the Saturday night game in front of around 100 fans.
The second half started with Isfeld holding a narrow 18-17 lead among loud cheers from the fans who were equally split in favour of both teams. Both teams played intense defence, making baskets difficult to come by. The seesaw scoring swung in Vanier鈥檚 favour as they started the fourth quarter with a small 31-28 lead. Isfeld fought back to hold a 39-37 edge with less than a minute to play when Lucas Falconer nailed a clutch basket for Vanier, putting the game into overtime.
Each team put up two points in the three-minute OT and a whistled play gave Isfeld the ball with 15 seconds remaining. The Ice inbounded the ball and got off a shot that didn鈥檛 fall, and Vanier snatched the rebound.
With the score tied 41-41 and only seconds remaining, McRae quickly moved the ball over half court and dialed long distance shot as the buzzer sounded to give Vanier the thrilling 44-41 win. Both coaches agreed the boys played a great game and the win could have gone either way.
Vanier Towhee coach Tony Edwards commented, 鈥淲e have great respect for the Isfeld team and congratulate them for being part of such a fantastic game. We wish both the Isfeld and Highland teams good luck at the North Island finals. The Comox Valley is producing some great young players and we hope to prove this against the best teams on Vancouver Island."
Highland, Isfeld, Vanier and Brooks all move on to the North Island playoffs this weekend in Parksville. They will compete against four Nanaimo teams looking for one of three berths into the Island championships, Feb. 18-19 in Victoria.
"Many thanks go out to the Lake Trail staff for their accommodation of the tournament games as well as the score keepers and parents who volunteered their time at the concession table," an event spokesperson said.
