The Oak Bay Bays and Spectrum Thunder are chasing history this week in the Quad-A boys’ B.C. high school basketball championship tournament at the Langley Events Centre.
The top-two ranked teams, on opposite sides of the draw, are on a collision course for the first all-Island final since the Nanaimo District Secondary Islanders, led by eventual two-time Olympian Gerald Kazanowski, defeated his future national-champion UVic Vikes teammate Kelly Dukeshire and Oak Bay in the 1978 final at the Pacific Coliseum. Before that, there were the classic all-Island B.C. finals of the 1960s between Gary Taylor’s Bays and Porky Andrews’ Vic High Totems.
The quest is personal for Taylor’s grandson and current Oak Bay guard Heath Taylor, who helps lead the provincial top-ranked Bays. The quest is also familial for Spectrum star Justin Hinrichsen, whose dad Eric Hinrichsen led the Carihi Tyees of Campbell River to the 1994 provincial semifinals and third place en route to a career as a national champion at UVic and a 2000 Sydney Olympian.
Taylor and the Bays beat Hinrichsen and previously top-ranked Spectrum in an Island championship game two weeks ago that created so much attention that it had to be moved from high school gyms to a larger venue and drew a near-capacity crowd to CARSA Gymnasium on the UVic campus.
Thirteen Island teams have won the title in the highest class of the B.C. boys’ high school tournament (now labelled Quad-A), including the 1992 championship won by eventual two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash and his St. Michaels University School Blue Jags, but there hasn’t been an Island champion since the 2007 Dover Bay Dolphins.
Oak Bay has flirted with ending that drought, including last year by reaching the semifinals, but each time falling short — including during the starry Bays high school career of current UVic Vikes sensation Diego Maffia.
Island teams that have won the top-tier B.C. high school championship are Porky Andrew’s Vic High Totems in 1959, 1962 and 1969, Bill Garner’s Totems of 1966, Gary Taylor’s Oak Bay teams of 1965 and 1968, Don Horwood’s Bays of 1973, 1974 and 1977, John Levering’s Nanaimo Islanders in 1978, Ian Hyde-Lay’s SMUS Blue Jags in 1992, Randy Steel’s Ladysmith 49ers in 1995 and Mark Simpson’s Dolphins of 2007.
If there ever was a time to add to the list, this looks to be the year. The top-ranked Bays open tonight against the 16th-seed Mount Baker Wild from Cranbrook at 7:45 p.m.
The provincial No. 2 Spectrum squad, making its first appearance since 1990, has drawn the dreaded Breakfast Special game his morning at 8:30 a.m. against the 15th-seed Prince George Polars.
The B.C. Triple-A second-ranked Dover Bay Dolphins provide the Island with a legitimate shot at another title this week at the LEC and open that championship tournament today against the No. 15 Gladstone Gladiators of Vancouver. The Dolphins, who reached the championship game last year, are led by Island tournament MVP Frank Linder. The No. 11 Mark Isfeld Ice of Courtenay meets No. 6 Maple Ridge Ramblers and the No. 13 Wellington Wildcats of Nanaimo play the No. 4 North Delta Huskies in other Triple-A openers today.
Brentwood College, the 2018 Double-A champion, is in the running for another B.C. title and goes in as the fourth seed and opens today against the No. 13 Charles Hays Rainmakers of Prince Rupert. The Lambrick Park Lions are No. 7 and meet No. 10 Southridge of Surrey in another opening-day game of the Double-A provincial championship at the LEC. The No. 6 John Barsby Bulldogs of Nanaimo play the No. 11 Britannia Bruins of Howe Sound.
In Single A, No. 11 Duncan Christian plays No. 6 Gidalang Kuuyas Naay, No. 13 Campbell River Christian meets No. 4 St. Ann’s Academy and No. 15 Brookes Westshore is up against No. 2 Maple Ridge in opening round games at the LEC.
FROM THE LINE: Lindsay Brooke’s St. Michaels University School Blue Jags made it to the B.C. girls’ high school Triple-A championship game for the second consecutive year before falling to the Brookswood Bobcats 69-63 in overtime last weekend at the LEC. The Blue Jags will be vying again next year with star Grade 11 players Charlie Anderson and Avery Geddes returning … The top-seed PCS Pacers also made it to a B.C. girls’ championship game last weekend at the LEC before losing 83-75 to the Unity Flames of Chilliwack in the final to place second for the second consecutive year.
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