When the North Central zone-champion Duchess Park Condors take their place on the basketball court at the triple-A boys provincial championship next week in Langley they'll be wearing Matt Pearce's wacky sense of humour under their high-tops.
Sporting the ugliest argyle socks they could find, the Condors paid a loud and proud tribute to their co-coach Saturday afternoon at College Heights gym and soundly defeated the Prince George Polars 106-69 to claim the zone championship.
Pearce died suddenly Jan. 23 of a heart condition, leaving behind a team of teenaged boys including his 15-year-old son Colburn, a group he'd coached since they were young kids. Rather than go through official channels to have their departed coach's initials stitched on their jerseys to commemorate his contributions to the Condors, co-coach John MacDonald came up with the socks idea.
"He had a thing and he liked to stand out – the socks represent him and that's why we wear them," said Condors Grade 12 forward Austyn Boulding. "This means everything to finally win and do this for Matt in his memory. It came as a shock but as soon as it happened we knew we had to do this for Matt."
As he has been all season, Colburn Pearce was the heart and soul of the Condors in the final, collecting a team-high 34 points while also dominating defensively at point guard.
"Today we came out strong and kept it going the whole game and it was our defence that did it for us," said Pearce. "We worked hard on everything in practice. We knew we had to have hard rebounds and hard D and we just played a really crisp game. We have a deep bench and that really helps us when guys get tired or are in foul trouble and there's not a dip in intensity or skill level."
As Colburn was announced as the tournament MVP Saturday, College Heights Cougars coach Jeff Goodrich informed the crowd Matt's name was engraved on the trophy 31 years ago when he won the zone final playing for the Polars.
"It's just really great to be on the same trophy as him," said Colburn. "I practice really hard and it's great to come into games and have that show. "
As difficult as the death of his father has been to accept, Colburn acknowledged it has left an unbreakable bond which is bringing out the best in the Condors.
"We were a close team but after my dad died we got even closer, it seems, and our practices were just way more focused and intense," said Colburn. "We really wanted to play for him, make him proud and know that he really wanted us to play our best. Now we're looking forward to provincials and trying to have a good showing down there."
Just like he did in Friday's 75-70 semifinal loss to the Condors, when he racked up a season-high 56 points, PGSS senior point guard Tyrell Laing took the Polars on his shoulders in his last high school basketball game. Laing played the whole game Saturday and totaled 52 points. But fatigue eventually set in as the Condors rolled out a steady stream of bench support to shadow Laing, and without any other consistent scoring threat, the Polars' fate was sealed. Laing's aim started to fade in the late stages but his
back-to-back 50-point games against the Condors were mighty impressive.
"We had some guys who did not show up for the last three games, so he had to do everything on his own," said Polars head coach Scott Walton. "When you run multiple plays for the same guy, at some point he's going to cool off. But if I'm cool and I'm hitting 52, I'm happy."
Senior guard Jasper Yutuc contributed 20 points and the Condors received substantial contributions from their second-stringers, rotating all 12 players into the game. Andrew Heitman came off the bench to score 12 points to replace Cody Boulding, who had four fouls. Grade 10 guard Malcolm MacDonald made his presence felt in the fourth quarter when he took on the job trying to upset Laing's rhythm.
The Condors won bragging rights as the top Prince George team when they beat the Polars 86-62 for the city championship a couple weeks ago. Laing said the Condors are deserving zone champions and admitted he didn't have much left to give to try to deny them the title.
"I was pretty exhausted," said Laing. "I knew this was going to be a couple of my last games playing if we weren't going to get it done and I just tried to score as many points as I could to try to help my team win.
"Duchess is a very motivated squad with the turmoil they've had to deal with and I think that's made them a lot closer as a team.
They've got a fire under their butts and they're playing real aggressive and real strong so it's tough to stop them. Colburn's athleticism is at another level and I have nothing but respect for him. It's nice to see him raise his level, from last year to this year it's been a big jump."
Coach MacDonald said he couldn't ask for any better leadership than he's been getting from his Grade 10 point guard.
"Colburn is doing everything we need. He's the hardest worker in practice and he's just there for us all the time.
"This is very sweet – the boys deserved it, with what they've gone through and how hard they've worked. I'm very proud of everything we've accomplished. We honour Matt with how we play and what we do and how we hold ourselves, and we'll keep honouring him for everything he's done for us."
The Condors were ranked 10th among triple-A teams in the most recent B.C. Boys Basketball Association rankings. They open play at the 16-team tournament on March 9.
