They are city champions and zone champions. The College Heights Cougars are about to begin the hunt for the biggest prize of all.
Today in Kamloops, the Cougars will play their first game at the senior boys basketball double-A provincial tournament. The Cougars will tip off against the Mission Roadrunners, the top seed from the Fraser Valley region, at 10 a.m.
In the 16-team event, word is that anyone in the top 10 could contend for the title.
"It's wide open," said College Heights coach Jeff Goodrich. "Anybody could take a game from anyone.
"The last half of the season has been the same story for us -- when we show up and play together and trust each other, we're really tough to beat. But when we're impatient and we start throwing the ball away, we're beatable. The more patience we have and the more care we take with the ball, I think we can hang with anyone."
At a tournament in Vernon earlier this season, the Cougars fell by a single point to the South Okanagan Hornets, who were ranked No. 2 in the province at the time.
Nolan Hanson, a Grade 11 guard for College Heights, said the team has the capability to do some damage in Kamloops this week.
"It's been a topsy-turvy season [in the province]," he said. "There was one team that wasn't ranked that beat the first-ranked team and so I just think if we work hard and keep playing the way we do, we can place really well."
The Cougars beat the D.P. Todd Trojans for the city and north central zone titles. Hanson and fellow guards Rajen Bhullar and Sam Goodrich are among the key players for the Cougars, who also rely on forwards Matt Badial, Josh Power and Joseph Beaman.
Also today in Kamloops, the D.P. Todd senior girls will start play at their double-A provincial tournament. The seventh-seeded Trojans will meet 10th-ranked Clarence Fulton of Vernon at 10 a.m.
Other local teams that tip off in senior provincial tournaments today are the PGSS Polars and Cedars Christian School Eagles girls squads. The Polars are in North Vancouver for the triple-A gathering and will take on the Argyle Pipers of North Van at noon. The Eagles, meanwhile, will take shots at the single-A tournament in Sparwood and are one of the favourites to claim the B.C. banner. Cedars starts off with an 8 a.m. game against the Charles Bloom Timberwolves of Lumby.
-- The Duchess Park Condors matched their seeding at the junior boys basketball provincials in Victoria.
On court at St. Michaels University School, the Condors won two games and lost two, good for a 13th-place finish.
The north central zone champion Condors started off with losses to St. Michaels and Skeena and then beat Kelowna and Dover Bay.
"It gave us a chance to see the other double-A teams [for next season's senior age group] so that now [the players] know how far the gap is that they have to close between now and their Grade 12 year if they hope to get out of our zone and compete maybe top-four provincially," said Condors coach Dave Holmes. "They had a great weekend."
Point guard Luke Holmes was chosen as the team MVP for the Condors.
White Rock Christian Academy defeated St. Michaels in Saturday's championship game.
