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The table is set

Just days from now, the Columneetza Cougars will be favoured to claim a zone championship title on their home court.
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Just days from now, the Columneetza Cougars will be favoured to claim a zone championship title on their home court.

During a weekend senior boys basketball tournament at College Heights secondary, the Columneetza club tuned up for the double-A zones by winning all three of its games. Columneetza, from Williams Lake, capped off the CHSS Cougar Classic by beating the rival Duchess Park Condors 86-71 in Saturday night's final game. The Condors were in the lead after the first quarter but the game turned against them in the second when the Cougars started to use a full-court press.

"We didn't handle it very well and that was probably the deciding factor," said Condors coach Kyum Shogren. "We know how to handle (a press) but we were kind of rattled."

In the semifinal round, the Cougars downed Houston Christian 76-52. And, to open the eight-team event, they dumped North Peace of Fort St. John 90-43.

In the last set of provincial double-A rankings, Columneetza was listed at No. 8 and was the only north central team in the top 16.

The zone championship tournament, a qualifier for provincials, is Feb. 11-13 at Columneetza. Duchess Park, College Heights and D.P. Todd -- all from Prince George -- are also entered in zones.

The Condors stepped into Saturday night's final by edging College Heights in a semifinal thriller. That game ended 87-84 in favour of Duchess Park. For the Condors, the win was oh-so satisfying. In early January, in the championship game of a D.P. Todd tournament, College Heights pounded Duchess 74-51.

The Condors started the Cougar Classic with a 76-62 win against Smithers.

College Heights went on to lose in the bronze-medal game, 80-59 to Houston Christian.

At the conclusion of the tournament, Harpreet Randawa of Columneetza was picked as the most valuable player and Ryan Jeffers of Houston Christian was handed the best defensive player award.

All-stars were Mike Holm and Manpreet Randawa of Columneetza, Kade Bosmann and Andrew Whitaker of Duchess Park and Nate Ewald of Houston Christian.

Trojans bounce back

After an opening-game loss at the Sa-Hali Sabre Classic senior boys basketball tournament, the D.P. Todd Trojans won their next two and earned the consolation side championship.

To start, the Trojans fell 87-73 to the host Sabres, currently the No. 10 team in the double-A provincial rankings. For the Trojans, Stephen Bradshaw (28 points) and Jordan Yandeau (13 points) were the top scorers.

On Saturday morning, D.P. Todd met Westsyde of Kamloops and fought to a 69-63 decision. This time, Yandeau hit for 27 points and Bradshaw finished with 11.

The consolation final ended up being an all-Prince George match-up and saw the Trojans step onto the hardwood against the Kelly Road Roadrunners. Thanks in part to a 33-point performance by Ethan Bhangu, D.P. Todd rolled to a 102-59 win. Yandeau added 18 points for the Trojans, as did Jai Kaushal. Lincoln Pilcik paced the Roadrunners with 15 points.

Bradshaw was selected as a tournament all-star.

Correlieu of Quesnel is hosting a senior boys

tournament this weekend.