The Mountain Christian Rams arrived at the Roll-A-Dome for their first game at the North Central zone single-A boys basketball championship knowing one thing.
They were going to lose to the Cedars Christian Eagles.
That became apparent from the opening tip-off and the Eagles did not disappoint their home fans who for two months had been denied the chance to see them play live because of the pandemic’s surge. The Eagles scored 22 points before the Rams got their first, and it ended in a 93-26 Cedars’ victory, but to the Rams, the score didn’t matter.
Made up of a young lineup that has three Grade 11s, five Grade 10s, one Grade 9 and one Grade 8 - and not one Grade 12 senior - the visitors from Dawson Creek took their lumps Thursday, playing the fourth-ranked single-A team in B.C., but they will be better for it, predicts Rams head coach Tony Vigar.
“Cedars Christian has a great program, solid system, great players, and my guys did a great job working on defence skills and learned a lot tonight,” said Vigar. “We learned how to handle adversity well, we learned how to handle fast, strong teams well and we got to see where we could be in a year from now. So if my guys work hard and put in the effort and the time and the shots, I think they could compete with Cedars. I’m glad we had the opportunity to see a team as skilled and as seasoned as they are and we look forward to being as skilled and seasoned as they are next year.”
The Eagles made the City League final Feb. 10 for the first time in school history, losing to the highly-touted Duchess Park Condors. Cedars tuned up for the 11-team zone tournament by playing double-A teams Nechako Valley of Vanderhoof and Westsyde of Kamloops on consecutive weekends and as they showed in their one-sided win over the Rams, there were no signs of rust.
“We do have some special players on our team, for sure,” said Eagles assistant coach Frank Crosina. “What I really liked is their unselfishness, they were just moving the ball. Sometimes when you play a weaker team you can get in some bad habits and you try to do as much scoring as you can, but I liked the way they just slowed it down, moved it around, and gave everybody a shot at a basket or two here.”
Seth Hulka was on fire from the get-go, pumping out 13 first-quarter points on his way to a 24-point game, enough to almost match the Rams’ entire team total. He got plenty of run support from the likes of Tony Kibonge (13 points), Mitch Crosina (12 points) and Zach Wagner (11 points).
“(The Rams) try hard and they played with excitement, and I liked that when teams don’t just stop when they’re losing,” said Mitch Crosina. “We got to try a new defence, the 1-3-1, which we hadn’t worked on against a team yet. We like to share the ball around a lot, which is nice to see.
“We just have to stay composed and stay locked in. We’ve got to worry about next tournament but we’ve got to worry about this tournament first.”
The top two teams will advance to the provincial single-A championship, March 9-12 in Langley.
Cedars led 54-15 at the half and held the Rams scoreless in a 33-point third quarter. The score allowed Ludditt to rotate his bench players into the game and they took over in the fourth quarter.
Cedars will advance to a playoff Friday at 8 p.m. against Sir Alexander Mackenzie Grizzlies of Hagensborg, 68-67 winners Thursday over Fraser Lake. All remaining games will be played at the College of New Caledonia.
In other results from the single-A tournament, led by 18-point efforts from Jayden MacInnis and Josh Achunike the Westside Academy Warriors of Prince George scored a 68-62 win over the Northside Christian Northstars of Vanderhoof.
Connor Brasson also reached double figures for the Warriors with 12 points. Carson Frey, with 24 points, and Noah de Vries, with 15, stoked the Northstars’ offence.
Westside will face the Fort St. James Falcons in a second-round matchup Friday at 6:30 p.m.
In other results Thursday, Fort St. James beat Mackenzie 84-47, McBride topped Tumbler Ridge 53-52, Northside Christian defeated Acwsalcta First Nation 77-22 and Mountain Christian edged Chetwynd 69-55.
The first final in the double-knockout tournament will be played Saturday at 5 p.m. A second final, if needed, is scheduled for Sunday at 10 a.m.
At the five-team triple-A tournament in Quesnel, the top-seeded Duchess Park Condors cruised to a 103-41 win over the host Correlieu Coyotes. Cole Laing led Condor cause with 23 points, while Aiden Lewis and Evgeny Baukin each had 18-point games.
The Condors led 35-17 after the first quarter and 66-24 at the half. The game was called with 2:16 left on the clock when one of Coyotes suffered a head injury in a loose-ball battle.
Duchess Park will play the Lake City Falcons of Williams Lake in a semifinal Friday at 6:30 p.m. The third-seeded Falcons beat the second-seeded College Heights Cougars in overtime Thursday. The score was not available. College Heights will play Correlieu today at noon, with the winner advancing to an 8:15 p.m. playoff.
Meanwhile, back in Prince George, the Shas Ti Kelly Road Grizzlies will host the four-team double-A boys zone championship, starting Friday.
The host Grizzlies are seeded No. 2 and they’ll face the No. 3 D.P. Todd Trojans in the tournament opener Friday at 9 a.m.
The top-seeded Nechako Valley Vikes face No. 4 Peter Skene Ogden of 100 Mile House, Friday at 10:45 a.m. The winners meet in a semifinal Friday at 5:45 p.m.
The first final is scheduled for Saturday at 3:45. A second final, in necessary, will be played Sunday at 10 a.m.
