After a bit of a shaky start, the Kwalikum senior boys basketball team found the opening round of the Towhee Tournament at GP Vanier Secondary to be a breeze Friday evening.
But Kondors coach Dave Frampton expected a hard wind to blow after his team rolled to a 79-48 win over Campbell River’s Timberline Secondary.
“Now the real work starts,” Frampton said, looking ahead to the semifinal round in a tourney that featured four AAAA teams — three of them from the Lower Mainland and one ranked provincially. “They’re good teams. But we have to play better teams to get better now. We’re at a level now where I don’t think we’ve improved a ton in the last two, three weeks.”
Indeed, the Kondors dropped an 83-58 semifinal decision Saturday to Parkland Secondary of Saanich, a AAAA school that went on to place second in the tourney. Then, facing AAAA New Westminster in the third-fifth place game later that evening, Kwalikum suffered a 96-64 loss to the Hyacks.
Kondors Grade 12 guard Drey Dixon was named to the tournament’s All-Star second team.
“You’ve got to play bigger, stronger teams,” Frampton said after Friday’s win over Timberline. “But we might have to do it without any post players. We’ve got two that are supposed to work and one out sick.”
Closer to home, the Kondors have faced little challenge in their AA North conference, cruising unbeaten thus far against similar-sized schools like Timberline.
On Friday, Kwalikum struggled through a cold-shooting first half, but used its swarming, pressing defence to forge a modest 33-25 lead at intermission. When the third period began, though, so did the Kondors offence.
Drey Dixon and Kevin Sudyko each bombed in a three-point goal in the opening minutes of the half and, after the Wolves used a mini-run to close to 41-32, Kwalikum erupted for 14 consecutive points that pushed its lead to 55-32.
Grade 12 guard Kevin Sudyko scored a game-high 25 points and added seven rebounds and four steals for the Kondors to earn Player of the Game honours. Ethyn Christensen scored 11 points and Arne Olefs and Sheldon Munroe chipped in eight each, with Munroe also pulling down a team-leading nine rebounds.
Munroe was questionable for Saturday’s semifinal and bronze games, and the undersized Kondors were already down one post player as they contemplated a game against one of the big, deep AAAA teams.
Frampton said he’s pointing to a tournament at Brentwood College in two weeks that will provide a better test of where the Kondors stand within their own AA classification.
“A lot of the best AA teams in the province will be there,” he said. “That’s the tournament I’m trying to get primed up for, so we can at least see where we stand relative to our competition on the Island and off-Island.”
The Kondors return to league play at home tonight, Jan. 17, with a 7 p.m. game against Cedar Secondary.
Above, Kwalikum Secondary’s Ethyn Christensen soars for a shot between Timberline defenders Bryan Gabutan, left, and Grey Hay during first-round senior boys action Friday at the Towhee basketball tournament at Vanier Secondary School in Courtenay. — Image credit: J.R. Rardon/PQB News
Kwalikum 79, Timberline 48
Kondors 18 15 22 24—79
Wolves 12 13 9 14—48
Kwalikum — Kevin Sudyko 25, Christensen 11, Olefs 8, Munroe 8, Crowther 7, Akiyama 5, Volk 2, Vukovic, Cullen.
Timberline — Ross Rickman 14, Lontayao 8, Baker 6, Meier 6, Hay 5, Chen 2, Hampton 2, Hunter 2, Ogrodnik 2, Gabutan 1.
Rebounds — Kwalikum 41 (Munroe 9), Timberline 55 (Ogrodnik 11). Steals — Kwalikum 17 (Sudyko 4), Timberline 10 (Rickman 3). Blocked shots — Kwalikum 3 (Dixon, Christensen, Munroe); Timberline 5 (Meier 3). Turnovers — Kwalikum 20, Timberline 38.
Towhee Invitational Tournament
Jan. 13-14 at GP Vanier Secondary
Championship
W.J. Mouat 74, Parkland 54
Third-fifth place
New Westminster 96, Kwalikum 64
Fourth-sixth place
G.P. Vanier 76, Rutland 64
Seventh-eighth place
Royal Bay 71, Timberline 65
MVP — Kenan Hadzovic, WJ Mouat
All-star 1st Team
Luka Cuk, New Westminster; Dylan Reid, Parkland; Levi Timmermans, Vanier; Sukhi Kang, WJ Mouat; Prav Gill, WJ Mouat.
All-star 2nd Team
Eric Wambacher, Rutland; Drey Dixon, Kwalikum; Klyde Macahilo, New Westminster; Godwin Porlares, Parkland; Ethan Bond, Parkland.
