Oak Bay, Nanaimo District and Brentwood College all carry the top seeds and most of the respect in their respective divisions as the Island senior boys’ basketball championships begin today on three fronts in and around Victoria.
The Oak Bay Bays are the class of the quadruple-A field, ranked No. 3 in the province, as play tips off this evening at Belmont Secondary in Langford.
Nanaimo District heads up the field at the triple-A Islands at Vic High and Brentwood College is the No. 1-ranked double-A team in B.C. as the Mill Bay institution plays host to that very intriguing championship, which also features the Lambrick Park Lions and St. Michaels University School Blue Jags, expected to be No. 4 and No. 5 provincially when ratings come out today.
“On paper, Oak Bay is by far the No. 1. After that it’s going to be a dog-fight,” said Belmont Bulldogs coach Kevin Brown, whose team is the No. 2-seed from the South and opens the tournament on home floor against G.P. Vanier at 8 p.m. “That’s just on paper.
“At this time of year, you just never know. Every team is usually at its best at this time of the year and sometimes things just click at the right time. I’ve been on the other end of that, where you’ve had teams that aren’t supposed to win and they do.”
A win for Belmont tonight means it faces a date against the North’s top seed, Dover Bay, in a semifinal on Friday at 8 p.m. The Bays await the victor of Cowichan versus the South No. 3 — either Spectrum or Claremont, which was playing a challenge game late Wednesday night.
Oak Bay’s semi will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday and the championship game is set for Saturday at 8 p.m. The top two advance to provincials, March 8-11 in Langley. The third-place finisher at Islands can challenge second if they have not met at the Island tournament.
“They’re a really deep team, fundamentally sound and they don’t make many mistakes,” Brown said of coach Chris Franklin’s Bays.
At Vic High, the host Totems are seeded No. 1 in the South, but it’s the Nanaimo District Islanders favoured and rated No. 5 provincially.
“It’s going to be difficult, there are no easy teams on the Island, for sure, but we’re looking forward to it and we’re going to embrace the challenge,” said Totems coach Cory Ahlers, which lost to NDSS by 15 earlier this year. “Nanaimo is very big, talented, well coached and disciplined.”
Vic High opens against Ballenas at 2 p.m. today, followed by Wellington versus Mount Douglas at 3:45 p.m.; Nanaimo plays Mark Isfeld at 5:30 p.m. and Carihi tackles Reynolds at 7:15 p.m.
Semifinals tip off at 5:30 and 7:15 p.m. on Friday, with the championship game Saturday at 7:45 p.m., after the bronze medal game at 6 p.m. Four teams advance to the provincials in Langley March 7-10.
The double-A level should be an incredible display of basketball as Brentwood College opens against Glenlyon Norfolk School at 2 p.m. Kwalikum has a tall order in a matchup against SMUS at 3:45 p.m.; Lambrick Park draws Highland at 5:30 p.m.; and Shawnigan Lake takes on Parkland at 7:15 p.m.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do in the Islands. People who were maybe anticipating us and Brentwood in the final aren’t going to see that,” said SMUS coach Ian Hyde-Lay, whose team was upset by Lambrick Park in the South final last week and expected to fall from No. 3 in B.C. to No. 5. “We have to be very honest with ourselves because we have a lot of work to do now just to get off the Island. End of story.”
“We wanted to be South No. 1,” Lambrick Park coach Ed Somers said of avoiding Brentwood in the semis where SMUS — last year’s B.C. runner-up — is likely to face the host. Semis go Friday at 5:30 and 7:15 p.m. and the same times are established for Saturday’s medal games with the top three teams advancing to Langley, March 7-10.
At least one Island team has made the B.C. final in double-A the last four years with Lambrick Park and SMUS each winning it once.
mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
