Like their Prince George high school basketball peers, situated a day’s drive away from the denser population bases in the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island and the Okanagan, these pandemic times have been hard on teams like the Duchess Park Condors.
Ranked No. 3 in the province among senior boys triple-A teams, the Condors had ambitious plans to travel around to the bigger tournaments around the province to face quad-A and triple-A teams similar in calibre to them.
Aside from a couple of trips to Kelowna, one for a tournament early in the other season and once for a two-game series against the quad-A Kelowna Owls, the Condors have stuck close to home. COVID and the provincial health restrictions that banned high school tournaments of any kind for most of the winter season have handcuffed teams from the north and they’ve had to scrap most of their travel plans.
Fortunately for local teams, the City League has given them a chance to play. It’s only been one game per week, but with tournaments not allowed until the provincial ban was lifted on Tuesday, it’s been their salvation this season.
With provincial championships just around the corner in a few weeks, the Condors tuned up for it Wednesday night at Duchess Park with an 83-64 win over the Cedars Christian Eagles in the City League final
The Condors’ dynamic duo, Evgeny Baukin and Cole Laing, gave them the offence they needed to deflate the Eagles, who were making their first-ever appearance in the City League boys championship final. Baukin, a six-foot-six import from Russia, scored a game-high 24 points and shooting guard Laing kept the Condors in command of the courtside proceedings with 22 points, with contributions of 12 points from Grade 10 speedster Adam Sieben and a 10-point game from Chris Zimmerman.
Tony Kibonge powered the Eagles’ attack with 18 points, backed by Mitch Crosina’s 14 points and 13-point night from Seth Hulka. The Condors led 27-14 after one quarter and 47-27 at halftime.
“They made a run in the second half and we ended up winning by 19,” said Condors head coach Jordan Yu.. “I wouldn’t say it was a close game but skill-wise I think they actually outplayed us, to be honest, but we just had too much height and finishing inside, which was the difference in the game.”
The Eagles are ranked No. 4 among single-A teams in the province and each time they’ve played Duchess Park the scores have been progressively gotten closer.
“Our (Cedars) girls have won it twice but our boys had never been to a city final and that was a huge accomplishment for our group,” sad Eagles head coach Jeff Ludditt.
“We’re not big and we know we have to be physical with Duchess and push the pace of the game and we got down a little bit at the start, but we kept with our system. Their big guy Evgeny is tough to handle, and we just don’t have any size,” he said.
“Our guys battled inside and we doubled them whenever we could and got our hands up on shots and I thought we rebounded well. But hey just have too many horses for us.. Being a small school, I have three or four really solid players, whereas they have seven or eight guys. But my boys never quit; they never backed down.”
Usually the City League finals, girls and boys, are played in front of packed bleachers at the Northern Sport Centre on the UBNC campus. But to limit the threat of spreading the virus, no spectators were allowed in the gym for either game. The games were streamed live on Facebook but with no raucous crowds present, the games were much more subdued.
“The people behind the scenes and the people who ran it did an amazing job again but you lost that city final feel,” said Yu. “I don’t think there was nearly as much energy as the last four years we’ve been there. We’re looking forward to getting back to normal and hopefully getting back to UNBC next year. It’s such a great environment when we get to play up there and we definitely missed that.”
In the senior girls final Wednesday, the College Heights Cougars had no trouble locking up the title. They scored 24 unanswered points after the opening tip-off and romped to a 114-47 win over the Prince George Polars. Rachel Loukes, a provincial U-18 team member, collected 27 points, Sophia Fuller, had 23, Ainslee Rushton had 10 points to spark the Cougars offensively.
For the Polars, Kezia Lizotte delivered a 22-point effort and Kaylin Parish put up 17 points.
College Heights is pegged fifth in the province in the senior girls triple-A rankings, with the Duchess Park girls earning an honourable mention.
Loukes, Fuller, Parish and Lizotte were selected for the City League all-star team, along with Kayla Lupul of College Heights, Mataya Lyons, Jeda Lobo and Payton Cruz of Duchess Park, and Brianna Skelly and Jenny Graham-Smith of the Shas Ti Kelly Road Grizzlies.
The boys all-star team includes Baukin, Lewis and Laing of Duchess Park, Kibonge and Mitch Crosina of Cedars, Skylar Chisan and Deacon Anderson of the Prince George Polars, Bobby Kelly, Troy Todoruk and Gaurev Bains of the College Heights Cougars.
The Condors and Cougars will be in Quesnel Feb. 24 for the start of the three-day North Central triple-A zone boys tournament at Correlieu. Cedars is hosting the 11-team single-A zone championship, Feb. 24-26 at the Roll A Dome and College of New Caledonia. Provincial boys championships for all tiers will be played at Langley Events Centre, March 9-12.
Last year, Duchess Park was ranked No. 1 in B.C. but didn’t get a chance to prove it when all provincial tournaments were cancelled because of the pandemic.
In the leadup to this year’s provincials, local teams will try to get together for games in the week they have off between zone and provincial championships. The Condors will probably take on a local men’s team, but it won’t be the UNBC Timberwolves.
“Two years ago, the year before COVID, we actually did play UNBC and it was great for us, It really prepared us for provincials and that year we went to the final, so maybe that was the key to our success,” said Yu. “But with COVID, I don’t think it’s allowed any more, so unfortunately we won’t get those games beforehand.”
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In the junior boys provincial rankings, the Prince George Polars earned honourable mention status. They’ll be in action this weekend at the North Central district championship at Shas Ti Kelly Road, which starts Friday. The winner will represent the zone at the provincial tournament, Feb. 26-March 1 in Langley.
The North Central zone junior girls district championship will be played this weekend at Duchess Park. The College Heights Cougars are ranked No. 10 in the province. The teams will be playing for a berth in the junior girls provincial championship in Langley, March 2-5.
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Two Prince George athletes are included in Howard Tsumura’s Varsity Letters website ranking of the top-15 Grade 12 high school girls volleyball players. Macyn Unger of Duchess Park is ranked No. 3. The senior libero/outside hitter has been recruited to play next fall at Simon Fraser University.
Ranked No. 12 is six-foot-one offside hitter Shadae Black of the D.P. Todd Trojans. Black has yet to commit to a post-secondary team but it’s probably just a matter of time, while she weighs her offers to decide where her volleyball future lies.
