The Prince Charles Secondary School Bulldogs were runners-up in their senior boys’ basketball home tournament Jan. 30 and 31 in Creston.
Prince Charles Secondary School, an AA squad, nearly pulled an upset in the championship match before falling 56-53 to the L.V. Rogers Bombers, an AAA team from Nelson.
“We should have beaten them,” said coach Doug Dortman. “We were right with them.”
The Bulldogs aided their opponents by shooting only 30 per cent from the field and 19 per cent from the free-throw line while turning the ball over 20 times, yet were still in the game through the final seconds.
“We’re a running team,” Dortman said. “We’re definitely in shape and our defence keeps us in games even if we don’t shoot well.”
The latter wasn’t an issue against the Fernie Falcons earlier in the tournament, when PCSS laid an unexpected 70-40 beat-down on a team that normally matches up better against them.
Fernie beat the Bulldogs by 20 in their first meeting of the 2014-15 season, before Christmas. PCSS avenged that loss a month later at a Kimberley tournament, staging a late-game rally to tie the score at the buzzer and win a close one in overtime.
Neither of those results foreshadowed the home-court blowout.
“I thought it would be a closer game,” Dortman said. “We definitely have improved our play.
“Our three guards up top are really fast, good hands,” he added, referring to Leo Evans, Jamond Dortman and Jordan Czar.
PCSS opened the tournament with a 48-36 victory over the Selkirk Storm of Kimberley on the Friday afternoon in front of a supportive student body.
The Bulldogs’ 12-man roster includes four Grade 12 students, Abdul Samai, Mitchell Bell, Donovan Osterreicher and Jarrett Oler, with the rest in Grade 11.
PCSS players of the game at the home tournament were Samai (against Selkirk), Evans (against Fernie) and James Troughton (against LVR).
The Bulldogs are gearing up for the East Kootenay AA championships to be held in Kimberley at the end of the month.
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