Caledonia’s Jr. Boys basketball team is showing promise this season, knocking back a number of wins already and some close calls to boot.
“The teams are a bit closer this year,” said coach Mike Johnson. “We played Centennial Christian School once over the Christmas break and they beat us in overtime – they’re decent as well.”
Prince Rupert is typically the team’s main rival.
“I’ve done this group for the last couple of years and its been us and Prince Rupert – Prince Rupert’s unfortunately usually won but I think now the tide might have turned a bit.”
At the time of this writing, the team, made up of Grade 9s and 10s from Skeena Junior and Caledonia, had played tournaments in Smithers, Kitimat, and Prince George – and is hosting northwest teams here this weekend.
The Duchess Park Condor Classic in Prince George was “good”, with the team winning one game and losing two close calls.
The team has had several close games this year, which made Johnson tell his players that it’s now “time for us to get to the next step.”
So far in this season the three Grade 10 boys, Jalen Holland (“He played last year, his game’s really improving”), Dylan King and Harvir Dhesi have played well along with Sol Johnson in Grade 9.
Elijah Azak, a Grade 9 as well, has also been showing promise as point guard. And the team’s Grade 10 international student from China, Weihou Zhou has also played well so far.
“We have a few interesting guys,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of kids who are really coming along.”
