As high school basketball season pushes closer to zone championship tournaments, the College Heights Cougars are adding some serious bite to their game.
The College Heights senior boys team played in its second consecutive tournament final Saturday night in Vernon. On the hardwood at Clarence Fulton secondary, the Cougars faced the host team for gold and dropped a 74-60 decision. The previous weekend, the Cougars won the Trojan Wars title at D.P. Todd secondary.
Against Fulton, the Trojans found themselves in a tie at halftime but slowly fell behind as the game progressed.
"I think we were down nine with about two and a half minutes to go and it looked like we might make a little run but we never scored again," said College Heights coach Jeff Goodrich. "We went a little bit cold. Actually, we're a very good match-up with them, except for, they had one guy who had 29 points. No one else on their team had 10, but he was really, really tough -- like a college-level player."
Clarence Fulton is currently the No. 10 team in the double-A provincial rankings, so, with the loss, the Cougars probably missed a chance to put themselves on the B.C. list.
College Heights began the event with a 93-85 win against Vernon and then defeated Pleasant Valley of Armstrong 84-66.
All things considered, Goodrich said his team is heading in the right direction.
"I really like the way we're playing," he said. "It would have been nice to beat Fulton. We went there with the intent of taking a crack at some ranked teams and maybe getting some people to notice us. I'm not sure if we accomplished that or not, but we looked pretty good.
"Our team defence is coming together," Goodrich added. "We're getting a little bit more balanced scoring, which is nice."
Two College Heights players who stood out were Grade 10 guard Nolan Hanson and Grade 12 forward Derek Fowlie. Both were chosen as tournament all-stars.
The Duchess Park Condors were also in action at Clarence Fulton. Duchess downed Westsyde of Kamloops 89-44 but then lost 84-77 to Fulton in the semifinal round. In the game for bronze, the Condors fell short against Pleasant Valley. The final score was 80-67.
Kade Bosmann of the Condors was picked as an all-star.
jpeters@pgcitizen.ca
