Sparwood Spartans played strong games at the B.C High School Basketball Championships, Mar. 5 to 8 in Langley.
The Spartans 1A boys finished in eight place overall, among some of the best teams in the province. They played a tough few games, that started with an opener against Osoyoos. A towering 6'9" player on the Osoyoos team didn't make it easy for the Spartans, as the game went back and forth.
For their second game, the boys played the number two ranked team in the province from Haida Gwaii. They kept the game close until the very end, but they were ultimately overcome.
The unfortunate loss of a player in game three hindered their scoring, and they finished the tournament with two close losses to independent schools from Kelowna and Duncan.
Coach Adam Christensen said the boys gave it their all.
"This is probably the best high school event for sports for any provincial or national competition, that you could attend. For many of these kids, this will be the memory of a lifetime for them," he said.
The boys secured a spot in the finals after overtaking the Salmo Falcons. They were the underdog team, but managed to surpass the Falcons by 27 points.
Going into the game, the Falcons were the number one ranked 1A team in the Kootenays and floated between sixth and eighth place in the province. One of their players, Troy Isaacs, was particularly strong, with an average of 45 points per game throughout the season. The Spartans managed to shut Isaacs down and took over the game with strong offence.
Leading players Lukas Pinchak and Ethan Doey, both scored over 30 points in the game.
Pinchak and Adam Latka took on a leadership role as team captains, and Sawyer Lowe provided crucial moral support.
"We held a 20 point lead from the beginning of the second quarter all the way until the end of the game. They didn't really give us too much of a game," said Christensen.
"They played great all year, but I would say that's probably the best game I've seen them play," he said.
Christensen said this season was difficult, with stronger regional competition than he'd ever seen before.
"There were multiple good teams across the Kootenays. We were the only 1A team in the East Kootenays, so we basically played 2A, 3A, 4A teams all year," he said.
"There were probably a good five or six teams that were competitive across the board," he added.
