The D.P. Todd Trojans are in position to be a true dark horse at provincials.
The Trojans junior boys basketball team hasn't lost a single game all season and qualified for the B.C. tournament by going 4-0 at zones in Quesnel on the weekend. But, because D.P. Todd hasn't played high-level competition from the Lower Mainland, the team will probably receive a low ranking at provincials, March 8-10 at Vancouver Community College.
That's fine with Trojans assistant coach Chase Davidson. In his view, it just means D.P. Todd will have the chance to surprise some people.
"We could definitely win a few games," Davidson said. "It'll be weird coming in as an underdog. I think it will definitely be to our advantage."
Sixteen teams will compete for the B.C. title.
At zones -- an eight-team, double-knockout tournament -- the Trojans opened with a 101-25 win against the host Correlieu Clan. Next, they beat the College Heights Cougars 79-50. That victory sent D.P. Todd into the championship round and a match-up with the PGSS Polars. The Trojans prevailed 80-35 and then had to wait to see who they'd play in the second final.
It turned out to be the Polars again, and PGSS would have needed to beat D.P. Todd twice to qualify for provincials. Instead, the Trojans galloped to another win, 60-29. Offensively, they got 17 points from tournament MVP Haydn Molcak, a six-foot-four, Grade 9 centre. Molcak is part of a set of Trojan triplets, the others being Colby and Joel.
Two D.P. Todd players -- Grade 10 guards Manni Dhemi and Raman Bhangu -- were picked as all-stars. The Trojans also have six-foot-four Justin Bennett in uniform, a player who made the Under-15 provincial team in the summer.
"We just have a full team of deep players," Davidson said.
The Trojans are rounded out by Sean Gaiesky, Akhil Satish, Pardeep Jaswal, Jagbir Parmar, Brylee Teschke and Kieran Kapphahn. The head coach is Jim Kondratuk.
Davidson is a 2009 D.P. Todd graduate and competed at provincials in his Grade 12 year. He'll be sharing words of wisdom with the current players before the trip to Vancouver.
"Everything is a learning experience down there," he said. "Going to provincials doesn't happen all the time so I'll tell them to take advantage of it and just have fun as well."
