High school basketball season might bring even better games than fans were expecting. Some interesting results highlighted the first week of senior AA boys’ b-ball competition Tuesday night.
One of those games took place at the Cedar Community Secondary School gym, where the Nanaimo District Islanders were too much for the Cedar Spartans in a 65-51 game. In past years this might have been a major upset but this year’s Islanders team has much more depth, size and skill.
“We’ve always lost, so it’s such a great feeling [to win],” said Peter Le Patezour, Isles veteran. “I’m stoked to go on and see if we’re going to win more because this is amazing.”
Scoring statistics weren’t tracked, but Grade 10 guard Tyus Barfoot was the player of the game for NDSS and the Islanders also got a lot of points from their big men in the paint.
“We were able to move the ball efficiently and get inside,” said Eric D’Andrea, Islanders coach. “And we were able to gang rebound.”
Josh Lancaster played well for the Spartans, finishing up around 10 blocked shots.
“We weren’t aggressive enough,” said Jarryd Engevik, Spartans coach. “We could have done a much better job on the defensive rebounding. Other than that we played all right.”
The John Barsby Community Secondary School gym also saw a surprising result Tuesday. The host Blazers didn’t pull off an upset against the favoured Wellington Wildcats, but they put up a fight before falling 65-55.
“Our defensive intensity just spilled onto the offensive side and that’s what we were mainly relying on,” said Kirstin Polz, Barsby coach.
Wellington’s Tyler Radelja led his team with 19 points and Brad Jenks had 16. For Barsby, Mert Seymen led all scorers with 20 points and Austin Lyle added 18.
The city’s other senior AA boys’ team, the Woodlands Eagles, lost on the road to the Ladysmith ’49ers by a final score of 71-59. The Eagles had led 42-31 at halftime.
In senior AA girls’ action, Tuesday’s only all-Nanaimo matchup involved the Woodlands Eagles and Barsby Blazers at the Woodlands Secondary School gym. The Eagles won 53-14.
“It’s obvious that we have work to do yet, but the girls are working hard so I’m quite happy with our effort,” said Carl Macdonald, Woodlands coach.
Michelle Berti led the Eagles with 17 points and approximately 20 rebounds and Valeen Jules scored 15 points. Sommer Burgmann and Nicole Mowat were the Blazers’ top scorers.
Also in action were the Wellington Wildcats senior AA girls, who ran past the Isfeld Ice 74-29. Kaitlyn Franklin, Mariah Van Sickle and Taelar Keir had 14 points each and Sara Simovic had 12 rebounds.
The Cedar Spartans senior AA girls were supposed to host the Kwalikum Kondors but the game was postponed.
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