The Duchess Park Condors thought they had a strategy for the BC senior boys basketball triple-A bronze medal game that would limit the damage Everett Swaim could do them.
Head coach Jordan Yu knew the A.R. MacNeill Ravens’ offence revolved around the six-foot-four forward and devised a gameplan that cast Condors six-foot-six starting forward Evgeny Baukin as the designated shadow to try to make Swaim’s life miserable, at least for the duration of Saturday’s game in Langley.
It might have worked, if Baukin had been able to stick around longer. The Grade 12 senior got caught with his first foul, a backcheck, just 19 seconds after the opening tip-off and before the game was four minutes old, Baukin was being called to sit on the bench after drawing his second foul.
Baukin played most of the second quarter and was his usual dominant self, blocking shots, clogging lanes and engineering scoring plays with his athletic shiftiness and knack for finding open teammates. It got the Condors cooking and they built a 34-24 lead at the half.
Swaim certainly did his part, scoring 11 in the first 20 minutes, nearly half the Ravens’ entire output and he was a key figure in the Ravens’ 13-2 run to start the third quarter, with Baukin on the bench with three fouls on his resume.
It was still anybody’s game when Baukin drew back into the action and he topped his inside layup with a spectacular finger-roll finish to the basket that gave Duchess a 45-41 lead. But all that momentum ebbed on the following play when Baukin drew his fourth foul when he came into contact with Josh Mayan, and once again Baukin was benched while Mayan made good on his foul shots.
Cole Laing restored the Condors lead with a superb spin move to the hoop, but just before the third-quarter buzzer, Swaim made a double pump-fake that drew two Condor defenders and left him wide open for a three that gave the Ravens a lead and a huge morale boost.
Baukin and Condors post Chis Zimmerman each caried four fouls into the fourth quarter and there was still 6:17 left when Zimmerman fouled out, just after Mayhan hit a three to put the Ravens up 53-52. The Condors’ offence sputtered and Swaim responded with a hook shot and a three, followed by another three from Cameron Pacheco and Duchess Park never recovered, losing 68-59.
In the aftermath, Yu couldn’t help but draw the parallels to Friday’s 75-63 semifinal loss to Elgin Park, in which the Laing, the Condors scoring leader, had two personal fouls in the first minute-and-a half and like a few other starters in that game, had to be benched. Not having their key guys available made all the difference and kept the Condors from reaching their medal aspirations in what was a tough, physical game.
“It was pretty much the same story as the semifinal game, we kind of shot ourselves in the foot, to be honest, with early foul trouble,” said Yu. “We’re not a very deep team and we have our preferred matchups we want and when we get int early fur trouble it kind of messes with our rotations.
“There was one guy we really needed to key on (Swaim) and when Evgeny picked up his second and third fouls it really put us in a tough spot to try and contain him. There was a couple ticky-tack calls made and unfortunately we were on the wrong side of those calls and we just had a tough time containing that guy inside.”
Did they ever. Swaim picked up 30 points and had 17 rebounds, six assists and six steals. Laing led the Condors with 18 points, Baukin has 16 and Aiden Lewis finished with 11.
Pandemic health restrictions that ruled out tournament play for two months especially hurt the Condors, who had just one tournament against the provincial powerhouses from the hotbed clusters of the sport, where their close proximity to each other allowed those teams high-level exhibition games during the provincial ban. No other team in the North Central zone was close to the Condors in calibre this season and their isolation was factor in their preparation for the medal round.
“I’m super-proud of our guys, we had a really tough season in not getting the competitive games we normally get and it was tough gauge to see where we were with the rest of the province,” said Yu. “But our guys hung in there tight, and to make the final four n a provincial tournament and being from the north, that’s an achievement itself.
“We kind of went in blindfolded to this tournament and I’m just really happy with how they competed with the rest of the province this weekend.”
Yu and his team were elated by the Cedars Christian Eagles performance in the single-A tournament and watched them beat Fernie 70-69 in the bronze medal game earlier Saturday.
“That was awesome, I’m so happy for Jeff (coach Ludditt) and the Cedars boys and that program,” said Yu. “They’ve been working hard at this for so may years and to see Mitch (Crosina) hit that final shot and Tony (Kibonge) have such a great game…I’m really happy for them to bring home some hardware to Prince George.”
Laing was named to the first all-star team, while Baukin was selected for the second team.
The top-ranked St. Patrick’s Celtics of Vancouver defeated Elgin Park Orcas 56-52 in the triple-A championship game later Saturday.
In other tournament results, the Nechako Valley Vikes finished 12th, in the double-A tournament after losing 72-50 to Summerland in the 11th-place playoff.
In the single-A tournament, the Fort St. James Falcons lost 76-58 to Meadowridge and finished 12th. The Northside Christian Northstars of Vanderhoof ended with a 60-35 loss to Pemberton in a placement game Friday.
