Look no further than Oak Bay High School the next three days as senior boys teams roll in for the Gary Taylor Invitational tournament, starting today at 2:15 p.m.
The Oak Bay Bays will face the Lambrick Park Tigers to tip-off the annual event, which culminates with the championship game on Saturday at 6 p.m.
鈥淚 think we鈥檙e young, but the veterans we do have are good,鈥� said Bays coach Chris Franklin, referring to Liam Horne, Matt Gray and Mat Hampton. 鈥淔or high school, they are very strong players.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e trying their best to lead the way for the young fellas so they can learn and grow. I believe we鈥檒l be a much better team at the end of the year, than the start,鈥� added Franklin.
鈥淟ast year we had a lot of veterans, a lot of Grade 12s, and we were a steady team. I knew what we were going to get day-in and day-out. This year, because we鈥檙e young, you see us play off emotion, which isn鈥檛 a great thing.
鈥淚 guess it鈥檚 part of my job, as well as [veterans] Liam, Mat, Matt and Jake Miller鈥檚 job to show them along the way, that this is how hard we鈥檙e going to play day-by-day.鈥�
Previously ranked No. 1 on Vancouver Island and No. 8 in sa国际传媒, that provincial ranking changed Wednesday as Oak Bay slipped to a tie for 10th with Vancouver College, thanks mainly to Tuesday鈥檚 68-53 loss in league play to the Claremont Spartans.
The Spartans 鈥� who will be on the Mainland for the Rebel Classic 鈥� are off to a tremendous start this season under coaches Davey Sundher, Brandon Dunlop and Amandeep Vaid.
Venturing to Oak Bay for the Gary Taylor are Saskatoon schools Campbell Collegiate and Aden Bowman, Vancouver College, Cowichan, St. Michaels University School, Lambrick Park and Belmont.
Other games today include SMUS playing Aden Bowmen at 4 p.m., Vancouver College going up against Belmont at 5:45 p.m. and Cowichan taking on Campbell Collegiate at 7:30 p.m. The semifinals are slated for Friday at 5:45 and 7:30 p.m.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a strong tourney; there will be no easy games,鈥� said Franklin, whose Bays defeated Belmont 68-67 last week in overtime.
