Senior Boys D4-1 Basketball

JB Basketball: The Season So Far

By Andrew Blair
This year’s team has a huge mix of talent, age and experience (3 x grade 7, 2 x grade 8, 3 x grade 9 and 4 x grade 10). There is no single dominant player and each brings a particular strength.
This bodes well for our team, because they ALL have to work hard and do their jobs.

In our league, BCS has a very strong team while MVR is more our level with a few more big, Grade 10 bodies. This will be the battle for 2nd place. Our results to date are all over the map.

Game 1: Centennial Regional HS…controlled scrimmage. Lost by 40 points. First game of the year against a VERY strong CRHS team. We decided to have a controlled scrimmage because the difference in skill level was so great. It was a great time, though, to get all our kids on the floor and gain some playing time.

Game 2: @ MVR…rescheduled

Game 3: BCS. Lost by 30(ish) (26-56 ish) BCS has a very talented squad. Although competitive for the first quarter, their ability to finish their lay-ups and their confidence with the ball.

Game 4: BCS. Lost by 60 (18-78). The score tells it all. BCS dominated throughout the game and our kids simply could not handle the pressure of their press. It was good, though, that we saw a good press, as we were able to work on being patient and passing the ball rather than trying to dribble through the press.

Tournament in Sherbrooke.
Game 1: Lost 34-40
Game 2: Won 58-32. Tied at end of first 20-20, up by 11 at half 32-21. Final score 58-32. Everyone played well, and the additions really stepped up on a very positive leadership role to help players like Patricio, Ba Nam (4 points) Emilio Reyes (first 2 points ever) etc. Getting to know the game better.
Game 3: Won 41-34. Great job by all the Jr.s who played, but particularly for the additions (Gage, Andrei and Richard) who helped out this weekend: how much we all appreciated their leadership. We all got better because of them. It was great that they got to shine a little brighter within their own peer group. Gage Larkin was by far the most influential player of the weekend among all the players on all the teams we played. All the coaches (and some refs) mentioned his grit, determination, toughness and ability to finish, especially against larger opponents. From my limited time with Gage, he is a coaches dream: he listens, he works hard, he leads by example, he never quits and he developed a sense of determination that helped his on-court focus transcend the need to worry about missed calls or bad calls...its part of the game.. and you can't change/make up the call.

Game 5 @BCS: Lost 14-44. Despite the score, this was a much better game that the last outing. Our kids were more in control, moved the ball around with much more confidence, but simply were not able to convert easy lay-ups. Defensively, we were much stronger.

Game 6 MVR: Lost 33-55. First game with everyone healthy. The boys were up 14-11 at the end of the first quarter. They were moving the ball well and working hard for rebounds. MVR started finishing more around the net and were up by 2 at half. The third quarter was neck and neck until the last minute and MVR went on an 8-0 run to go up 34-25. In terms of firsts, this was Fred Migneault’s first ever basket in a game!!! Sadly, we were not able to put anything together in last 8 minutes. Final score: 33-55.

BCS Tournament
Game 1: Lost to WIC by 20. The boys were definitely NOT ready to play. The were tentative on defence and lacked any confidence moving the ball around. At half, the score was 2-32!! It was not because WIC was that good, we simply were not playing that well. We have a heart-to-heart at half time and the older members of the team really picked up their game. In particular, Tyler C, Hadley, Justin L and Leo Li. We scored 18 points in the third quarter but the difference was simply too much to make up throughout the period of play. Final score: 27-47.
Game 2: Won vs MVR: 34-27. This was the game we were looking forward to… the grudge match vs MVR. Our team was ready to play right from the first whistle. They were determined and focused. We were moving the ball well, finishing well and confident. You could tell, even in the last minutes when the score bounced back and forth by one point, that we were going to win the game. With one minute left, we hit two key shots to go up by 4 points. MVR had to start fouling to stop the clock. We made our free throws and that was that!
Game 3: Lost to BCS (again) by lots… BUT… SC was revved up for the beginning of this game. You could tell that the tank was not full because they worked so hard during the game the night before, but at the end of the first quarter, we were winning 10-8! We were running the floor well, moving the ball with confidence, and finishing our shots and lay-ups. Then we got tired. BCS has a good team AND a deep bench so they simply kept running the floor and we could not keep up.

Next game, February 6 @ MVR
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