It was a busy weekend for Comox Valley high school hoops teams, with several in action at Island championships hoping to qualify for provincials. Here’s a run down on how the locals fared:
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At the Vancouver Island Junior Girls Championships Feb. 23-25 at Mark Isfeld Secondary, the host Ice played some exciting basketball to earn a berth to the provincials.
The Ice shocked B.C. top-15 Claremont 43-30 in their opener, took out Ballenas 43-33 in a double overtime thriller then fell to oak Bay in the final. Pacific Christian finished third and Ballenas fourth. The B.C.s go March 8-10 in Langley.
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At the Vancouver Island AA boys tourney Feb. 23-25 at St. Michaels University School in Victoria, opening day losses for the Isfeld Ice and Highland Raiders proved hard to overcome as the Valley sides ended up tied for fifth at the eight-team event
Highland (N3) fell 76-44 to SMUs (S2) on Thursday as Noah Lewis scored 18 and Nick Tancon added 14 for the Raiders. They bounced back on Friday to defeat Gulf Islands (S4) 61-46 as Ben Colun hit for 18 and Willy Arao Arao added 16.
On Saturday Highland lost 92-51 to Lambrick Park (S3).
The Ice (N2) dropped their opener 69-54 to Lambrick Park on Thursday as Matt Bowen scored 19 and Ben Miller added eight. On Friday, Miller tallied 18 and Bowen bagged 10 as the Ice got by Wellington (N4) 49-41. Isfeld took on Ladysmith (N1) on Saturday and fell 68-55.
A win on Saturday would have put the local teams into the game for the third and final berth to the B.C. championships, but it was not to be.
Instead, the teams they lost two met to decide who would go to Kamloops March 7-10, with Lambrick Park topping Ladysmith 81-67 to punch their ticket to the provincials.
SMUS surprised Brentwood College (S1) 56-38 in the final. Ladysmith finished fourth while Gulf Islands and Wellington tied for seventh.
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At the Vancouver Island Junior boys championships Feb. 23-25 at Cowichan Secondary in Duncan, the Vanier Towhees lost two straight and finished tied with Cowichan (C2) for seventh place at the eight-team tourney.
Vanier (N2) fell 40-23 to Oak Bay (S2) on Thursday then were eliminated Friday ollowing a 55-48 loss to John Barsby (N3). Claremont (S1) defeated Wellington (N1) 49-36 in the final. Lambrick Park (S3) edged Gulf Islands (C1) 55-54 to earn the third and final berth to the B.C.s, which go March 8-10 at Vancouver College.
Gulf Islands finished fourth while Oak Bay and John Barsby (N3) tied for fifth.
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At the North Vancouver Island AAA boys tourney Feb. 23-25 at Dover Bay, the Vanier Towhees earned the fourth North Island seed to the Island championships.
The Towhees (#3) knocked off Frances Kelsey (#6) 79-58 in a must-win game Feb. 23 in Courtenay. They then headed to Dover Bay, where on Feb. 24 they lost 65-45 to Cowichan (#2). On Feb. 25 Vanier lost a 90-89 heartbreaker in overtime to Ballenas (#4) in the game to determine the third North Island berth to the Islands.
Dover Bay (#1) edged Cowichan 70-68 in the final. Alberni (#5) and Frances Kelsey tied for fifth. The Island championships go March 1-3 at Cowichan, with Vanier (N4) meeting Mount Doug (S1) in their Thursday opener.
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At the Vancouver Island AAA girls tourney Feb. 23-25 at Mount Douglas Secondary in Victoria, the Vanier Towhees went 0-2 and finished tied for seventh with Stelly’s (S5) at the eight-team event.
Vanier (N3) dropped their Thursday opener 70-44 to Oak Bay (S2) then fell 59-46 to Spectrum (S4) on Friday.
Claremont (S1) beat Oak Bay 63-53 in the final (both qualify for the B.C.s March 7-10 at Capilano College) while third-place finisher Mount Doug will play a challenge game for a chance to go to provincials.
Dover Bay (N2) finished fourth while Alberni (N1) and Spectrum tied for fifth.
