Nick Novak has seen this movie before.
It stars the D.P. Todd Trojans senior boys basketball team, and for Novak, the ending is all too predictable.
Now head coach of the Duchess Park Condors, just one year ago Novak was playing point for the Prince George Polars when he saw firsthand the damage the Trojans can do to a team's pride. They beat the Polars by 25 points in the City League semifinal, the third straight year the Trojans ended the City League title hopes for PGSS.
Wednesday night at D.P. Todd gym, Novak was behind the Condors' bench, where he could do nothing to stop the host Trojans from handed his team a humbling 117-23 defeat. With the win, the Trojans finished a perfect 4-0 atop the City League standings. They'll play Duchess Park (1-3) again Feb. 5 in the semifinals.
"They've played together since Grade 8 so they have a lot of chemistry and they're a tough team to beat," said Novak. "Honestly, I really credit the coaching. They stay committed, year-in and year-out, and they always demand the best from their guys and their offence is amazing. Every guy's into it, everyone is unselfish and every guy wants to win on that team."
Ranked 10th in the province among double-A teams, the Trojans hit triple figures in scoring for the first time this season. The scoring was spread out evenly among handful of players. Raman Bhangu led the way with 25, Anthony Mijatovic had 22, Akhil Satish and Haydn Molcak each sunk 16, and Tanner Stephenson collected 13.
"We've had a good few opportunities [to break the 100-point barrier], it was a good win, a good team effort and we had fun out there," Mijatovic. "We're a deep team with a lot of skill. We don't really have a set starting five yet, we just roll guys in.'
Grade 12 guard Manni Dhemi says his Trojans are showing no weaknesses as they head into crunch time with City League playoffs looming.
"Our offence is really clicking and just thought we played a complete game [Wednesday]" said Dhemi. "We just have to come in with the attitude anything can happen. PGSS came into our home tournament [two weekends ago] and gave us a run for our money. We just have to play with our backs to the wall because we haven't won [the City League] in so many years. If we take everything seriously I'm sure we'll do fine."
The Trojan team that lost 69-63 to Duchess Park in last year's final had just two Grade 12 players. Now they're stocked with six seniors - Dhemi, Stephenson, Bhangu, Satish, Sean Gaiesky, and former Condor Daniel Noel. Add in their impressive Grade 11 talent - Mijatovic, Kieran Kapphahn, Brenden Bhatoa and the triplets, Colby, Joel and Haydn Molcak, -- and the Trojans appear to have the makings of a championship team.
"So far it's been a good season and hopefully we can make it to city finals and it will be a good matchup," said Stephenson, who played in the final in 2012 and 2013, losing both to Duchess Park. "It's a real intense game and I hope this year will be just like that."
The Trojans are entered in the Sa-Hali tournament at the end of the month in Kamloops, where they'll run into top-ranked South Okanagan and Westsyde of Kamloops. D.P. Todd finished fourth in Chilliwack and were fifth in the Abbotsford tournament.
"We're ready to see the top teams in the province right now," said assistant coach Chase Davidson. "We were short men for this game, we only had eight guys instead of 12, but we got the job done pretty easily.
"It's been three straight years of disappointment in the city final for D.P. Todd and we're hoping this is our year."
The Condors were unable to score their first point until the game was six minutes old. They trailed 56-11 at halftime, which was not unexpected. In two previous meetings, head-to-head, the closest the Condors got to the Trojans was 70-point loss.
"The important thing is to just stay positive and just go out there and have some fun," said Novak. "Some of these guys [on the Condors team] have never played on a team before, let alone basketball. We've actually come a long way and all the kids have the best attitudes."
It didn't help the Condors' cause that their best player, centre Dieumerci Agakiza, was on the sidelines in street clothes filming the game, out with an injury. Robin April, a Grade 12 Condor who didn't play last year because the senior team was so strong, put up eight points to lead all Duchess scorers Wednesday, while Dalton Goudy collected six points.
"All of our team tried our best, we had some messed up passes but we tried our hearts out," said April. "We just have to stay positive and we'll get there. For next year and the year after that this team will continue to push and work our hardest."
