The Vanier Towhees senior boys basketball team went 2-1 at the Claremont Tournament in Victoria on the weekend.
Their first game was against Matthew McNair, and the quick, hot-shooting Richmond team gave the Towhees fits on defence, and played an aggressive, teamwork-inspired game.
The Towhees just couldn’t get on track and had one of their poorest efforts of the year. The only bright lights were Harry Li (9 points, 6 rebounds), Bryce Olsen (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Joss Biggins (10 points, 8 rebounds).
“In general nobody really stepped up defensively on the quick shooters from Richmond,” Towhees’ head coach Larry Street noted.
The second game was a complete turnaround from game one, in which the Towhees played like they were embarrassed the night before, had much more energy, and buckled down on their defence.
Shawnigan Lake were the opponents, and really were no match for a Vanier team who played everyone, had a +48 as a team (compared to a +3 the night before), out-rebounded the tough rugby players from Shawnigan, and just seemed to have lots of fun on this afternoon.
Joss Biggins (22 points shooting 69 per cent from the field) had a stellar game on defence while Player of the Game Bryce Olsen chipped in 19 tough points and 10 rebounds, the second game in a row he double-doubled.
Foster Dewitt enjoyed toying with the Shawnigan boys, adding 8 points and 9 rebounds. Li again came off the bench and gave his customary energy to his team, scoring 9 points and grabbing 11 aggressive rebounds.
Vanier’s last game, against Fraser Heights from Surrey, was a great match-up with even size, and an athletic group that the Towhees had to focus defensively on. “Luckily, the boys witnessed a very impressive win by the University of Victoria men’s team over Saskatchewan the night previous, and marvelled at the intensity of their defence,” Street noted.
“This intensity carried into their game with Fraser Heights, and we think it was their best effort of the whole year for a full 40 minutes, resulting in a 69-56 win.”
Player of the Game Biggins roared with 30 points, scoring on the fast break, getting some impressive offensive rebound put-backs, hitting his killer jump shot, and shooting 100 per cent (8-for-8) from the free throw line.
Chipping in with 11 points was steady Jakob Jungwirth, performing one of his best all round games of the young season. Dewitt grabbed 6 rebounds and scored 8 points. “Every Towhee was a terror on defence, and proved to themselves that this will have to be their mantra for the rest of the season in order to take on the top level of teams at the AAAA division,” Street said.
The Towhees host their annual Invitational tournament this week, with action getting underway at 3 p.m. today and continuing Friday and Saturday through to the 8 p.m. championship final on Jan. 18.
New Westminster had to bow out of the event and their spot is being filled by the Highland Raiders. Other teams competing include Wellington, SMUS, Sentinel, Eric Hamber, Chilliwack, Timberling, Centennial, Handsworth, Belmont and defending champion Mount Douglas.
– Vanier Towhees
