Although the Salmon Arm Secondary Junior Golds did not hoist the provincial banner, they competed hard and learned a lot from their experience this past week at the provincial basketball championships in Langley.
The Golds entered the tournament seeded 31st out of a 32-team bracket.
Due to their low seed the Golds faced off against the second-ranked school from Surrey, Tamanawis Wildcats. The Golds’ usual strength of shooting eluded them, and the much taller Wildcats cruised to an 85-43 victory.
Leading scorers for the Golds were Matt Cooper and Dawson Mayes, each with 16 points.
The Golds’ second game was against the New Westminister Hyacks. The Hyacks had a strong tournament finishing 10th overall, which included a 73-26 victory over the Golds.
Again, the Golds struggled to find a rhythm offensively.
Leading scorer for the Golds was Rowan McDonald with eight points. In their third game, the Golds were matched up against Duchess Park from Prince George.
The Golds found their groove and got back to playing the up-tempo game they’ve had success with all year.
They raced out to a 20-point lead in the first half and held off a late surge by Duchess Park to win 57-50.
Mayes had 18 points and earned player of the game, and Trajan Boyd notched 15.
Next, the Golds were matched up with Fraser Heights of Surrey. The Golds fell behind 21-6 early in the game before putting together a run of their own, thanks to the three-point shooting of Mayes and Cooper.
Fraser Heights then began taking the basketball inside, resulting in the Golds getting into foul trouble. Eventually the Golds would fall 64-51. Mayes led all scorers with 27 points and Cooper ended with 14.
In the final game of the tournament, the Golds played Fleetwood Park, also from Surrey.
Like their third game, the Golds found their scoring touch by using their speed and three-point shooting to open up an early lead.
They continued to maintain their lead, thanks to tough defence from Kevin Villamor and Tyson Qiodravu and eventually prevailed 58-50.
Sr. Golds
The Senior Golds finished third at the AAAA Okanagan Valley playoff tournament Feb. 26 and 27 in Rutland. In their first game they played second-seeded Kelowna Secondary. After a competitive first half, the Golds trailed by 11, but did not manage to score in the second half, and lost 82-40. Lenny DePatie led the charge with 10 points and eight rebounds, while Norman Ambauen added seven points.
Playing for third place against the fourth-seeded Penticton Lakers, the Golds won 55-48. DePatie again led the charge with 14 points, while Josh Kujat added 13. Kujat was named an honourable mention for Valley All-Stars, the only player not on KSS or Mount Boucherie to receive such an honour.
The Golds finished a competitive 20-12 on the season. Looking forward, the Golds will lose five Grade 12 players: Stephen Kooistra, Evan Chorlton, Lenny DePatie, Brayden Koprowsky and Jordan Hislop. However, they will have as many as 10 players looking to return for next season.