The Senior Golds Basketball team split their four-game tournament appearance in North Vancouver on the weekend with two wins and two losses.
In their first game of the weekend, Salmon Arm lost to Sentinel Secondary School from West Vancouver 75 – 68. Dawson Mayes led the Golds with 20 points and four steals. Noah Vieira Shay posted an impressive 11 points. The game was hard fought for all 40 minutes. The Golds were down as many as 18 points in the third quarter, but almost pulled off a great comeback.
In the Golds’ next game they jumped ahead early and maintained pressure throughout, never letting the opposition from the Northwest Territories back into the game. The final score was 75-62 for Salmon Arm. Mayes had another strong game with 28 points and five rebounds. Trajan Boyd had 18 points and eight rebounds.
Salmon Arm earned their second win of the weekend in a down-to-the-wire game against Queen Elizabeth High School from Edmonton. The teams traded the lead back and forth but Salmon Arm inched out the win, 79-74.
Salmon Arm closed the weekend with a tough loss to Belmont Secondary from Vancouver Island.
Golds’ head coach Rhys Waters called it a decent game that got a little out of hand towards the end.
“We hope to play them again, as we feel we can give them a better game,” he said.
The final score was 82 – 68 for Belmont.
Salmon Arm finished eighth in a 16-team field. Waters said the team is finally succeeding in producing some offense, led by point guard Dawson Mayes.
Mayes was a recipient of a $500 scholarship from the Keast Foundation for outstanding play and team leadership
The Golds are back in action at the Christmas Classic tournament in Penticton on Dec. 15 and 16.
