The Dover Bay Dolphins played for an Island championship, and there’s still much more to play for.
The senior AAAA boys’ basketball team was runner-up at the Vancouver Island championships this past weekend in Victoria, and will have to survive a challenge game to reach provincials.
The Dolphins fell 98-68 to the Oak Bay Bays in Saturday night’s final at Mt. Doug Secondary.
“The main thing we tried to do was work hard and we came in and did that, so we were successful in that area, but sometimes that doesn’t [lead to] a win,” said Christian Wigmore, a first-team all-star.
Carson Williams, Dolphins coach, said he was proud of the way his guys played over the course of the tourney, in which they beat Belmont 64-35 and then defeated Vanier 76-64 to make the final.
“They’ve been working so hard all year and to see them come together at the end and really play the kind of basketball we’ve been trying to play all year was really great to see as a coach," Williams said.
Wigmore led Dover with 14 points in the final and Benjamin Davies and Gary Gladstone scored 10 apiece. Jeff Webb was chosen a second-team all-star.
The runner-up finish at Islands wasn’t enough for the Dolphins to advance because they didn’t play the third-place Cowichan Thunderbirds at the tourney. The T-birds are a big team and will be tough in the challenge game this Tuesday (March 3) at 7 p.m. at the Dover Bay Secondary School gym.
“We’ve been playing in a lot of tough games. I think we’re used to the big games,” said Williams. “We just have to play well and execute and hope our shots are falling.”
The Dolphins are a bit beat up after the grind of North Islands and Islands, but they’ll dig deep for a do-or-die game Tuesday night.
“It’s going to be wild,” Wigmore predicted. “Both teams coming in there with the season on the line, Grade 12s knowing this could be their last game of the season. The energy’s going to be up and it’s going to be so much fun. I’m so excited.”
sports@nanaimobulletin.com