They haven’t played a game in 10 days, but the Oak Bay Bays will be more than prepared when they venture into the Dover Bay gym for the Island senior boys quadruple-A championship, says their coach.
The six-team tournament, which will produce two spots for the provincial championship in Langley on March 9-12, begins tonight with South No. 2 seed Belmont taking on North 3 G.P. Vanier at 6, followed by North No. 2 Dover Bay facing South No. 3 Claremont.
South No. 1 and tournament favourite Oak Bay awaits the winner of the latter in a Friday 8 p.m. matchup, while the North’s top seed, Cowichan, will face the Belmont-Vanier victor at 6 p.m.
The championship game will go Saturday at 8 p.m., after the third-place game at 6. Third place could challenge second for the other provincial berth should they not meet at this tournament.
“Rusty? Not really. We’ve played a lot this season and the rest and a couple of days of practice will only help us,” said Oak Bay Bays head coach Chris Franklin, whose team last played on Feb. 16, a 68-36 win over St. Michaels University School in league play.
The Bays were a perfect 10-0 in the regular season and six of those wins came against quadruple-A competition. The weekend prior to the SMUS game, Oak Bay finished fourth at a tournament in Regina, losing by 12 to a strong LeBoldus team from Regina and by one to southern Alberta powerhouse Cardston.
Host Dover Bay is favoured to down Claremont, and should that occur, the Bays will be facing a team they have not played this year.
“Our schedules haven’t crossed,” said Franklin. “I’m sure Dover will be strong in its own gym. They’ll be ready to go.”
Dover Bay is led by six-foot-four forward Jeff Webb, a volleyball MVP. Vanier features Ty Edwards and Chase Hobenshield, who tower at six-foot-seven, and Cowichan features five players around six-foot-six, including Noah Charles, whose brothers Jordan and Joshua play for the Uvic Vikes.
Franklin isn’t concerned with the lengthy layoff.
“We’ve played a fair amount with a lot of travel. It’s helped the boys get battle tested,” he said of his provincially No. 4-ranked Bays, the only B.C.-rated team on the Island. “I want them playing hard and smart. We’ve had very good practices and I want to see a continuation of that.”
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