To say the future looks bright for basketball in and around the Victoria area would be a gross understatement.
This week, hoops fans can get a good look at what lies ahead in the form of Cowichan Secondary’s Josh Charles and St. Michaels University School’s Jason Scully.
Scully had 30 points as the SMUS Blue Jags opened their annual Invitational tournament on Thursday morning with a healthy 66-58 win over Charles (with 26 points) and the Thunderbirds.
Both are Grade 11 standouts with bright futures.
“If I work for it, yes, it could be bright,” Charles, a six-foot-five, 220-pound swingman said of his personal outlook. “My goals are to make it down south in the [United] States for university. That means I have to push myself now to get there. I think it’s achievable, if I work for it.”
He displayed that work ethic on Thursday, as did Scully.
“We started extremely well, up 17-2, but from three minutes left in the first quarter through to the end, we weren’t really that sharp,” said SMUS head coach Ian Hyde-Lay. “We had a great game from Jason who was tremendous with the 30 points and14 rebounds.
“It was a bit of him against Charles today. We did a good job [on Charles], but he’s good. He wears you down,” added Hyde-Lay. “The thing about him is he’s such a great passer that when you load up and help on penetration, he finds the big guys like [Travis] McDonald, who scores well for them.”
McDonald added 15 points for the T-Birds.
“We didn’t play consistent the whole time. The second half we came out stronger, but it wasn’t enough. We came out too soft,” suggested Charles, a provincial player at the Under-14, -15 and -16 levels so far.
His coach was in full agreement.
“Early game; haven’t played since before Christmas — I don’t think we were ready and it kind of showed. We didn’t give ourselves a chance,” Sandeep Heer said of the T-Birds’ second loss to SMUS this season, dropping a seven-point defeat at the Oak Bay tournament pre-Christmas break.
“We use these games to try and improve for later in the year. We’re hoping to play good teams, SMUS is one of them and we want to keep playing good competition,” he added of his No. 2 ranked-Island team, behind No. 1 Claremont and ahead of No. 3 Oak Bay. “Hopefully, we make provincials, grabbing one of the two seeds. I think we’re heading in the right direction.”
With Charles in charge.
“He’s a very talented individual, who brings a lot of good things to our team and he’s still young,” Heer said of the 16-year-old. “He has real good size for a high school kid. He’s extremely strong for his age.”
The talent runs in the family as Charles’ older brother Jordan is a freshman guard with the University of Victoria Vikes, while younger brother Noah is playing on Cowichan’s junior team.
Top-ranked Claremont went on to hand Cowichan another loss in the late games, this one by a 72-52 score. SMUS stayed perfect with a 91-53 win over Regina’s Sheldon Williams. In other boys action Thursday, Lambrick Park beat Oak Bay 60-50 and Vancouver College defeated Harry Ainlay of Edmonton 93-76.
On the girls’ side Thursday morning, Lambrick Park beat Rundle College 77-67, and Wellington cruised past SMUS 80-18.
Play continues today in both senior boys and girls action with championship finals on Saturday.
