Nanaimo high school basketball teams are approaching playoff form, and fans will be able to see it for themselves.
The Cedar Spartans senior boys and Wellington Wildcats senior girls are both hosting tournaments this weekend – the Cedar tourney starts today (Feb. 3) while the Wellington games get underway Friday.
Spartans coach Rick Hart said this week’s tournament is important to his players.
“Some of these Grade 12s, it’ll be their last home games,” he said. “So there will be some jitters, but it will be kind of their last chance to do well in front of the school.”
The coach wants his players to work on a few new things at the defensive end of the court during the tourney. He hopes his team makes it to the playoff round to assure itself of facing some real high-calibre opposition.
“If we do well and get to finals, we’ll get some real competitive games there at the end,” he said.
Nicole McRae, coach of the Wildcats girls, said this weekend’s tournament comes at a good time for her playoff-bound team.
“A tournament right before North Islands is kind of a last chance to get everything organized and get us working as a group,” she said. “[It’s] a good chance for us to fine-tune our offences and defences and get everyone working together.”
GAME ON … For the latest scores and stats from the high school basketball courts, please click here … Besides the Cedar tournament, another local game tonight (Feb. 3) sees the Barsby Blazers senior girls take on Brentwood at 5 p.m. at the John Barsby Community Secondary School gym. On Saturday, the Dover Bay Dolphins senior AAA boys host Claremont at 2 p.m. … The Cedar Spartans tournament schedule is below:
Thursday, Feb. 3
Cedar vs. Carihi 2 p.m.
Wellington vs. Kwalikum 3:45 p.m.
Barsby vs. Alberni 5:30 p.m.
Woodlands vs. Ballenas 7:15 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 4
Cedar vs. Isfeld 8:30 a.m.
Kwalikum vs. Gulf Islands 10:15 a.m.
Alberni vs. St. Thomas Aquinas noon
Ballenas vs. Belmont 1:45 p.m.
Carihi vs. Isfeld 3:30 p.m.
Wellington vs. Gulf Islands 5:15 p.m.
Barsby vs. St. Thomas Aquinas 7 p.m.
Woodlands vs. Belmont 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 5
Playoff games at Cedar Community Secondary School, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; consolation round games at North Cedar Intermediate School, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Championship game 4 p.m.
Third-place game 5:45 p.m.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com
