They haven鈥檛 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鈥檚 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.
鈥淩usty? Not really. We鈥檝e played a lot this season and the rest and a couple of days of practice will only help us,鈥� 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.
鈥淥ur schedules haven鈥檛 crossed,鈥� said Franklin. 鈥淚鈥檓 sure Dover will be strong in its own gym. They鈥檒l be ready to go.鈥�
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鈥檛 concerned with the lengthy layoff.
鈥淲e鈥檝e played a fair amount with a lot of travel. It鈥檚 helped the boys get battle tested,鈥� he said of his provincially No. 4-ranked Bays, the only sa国际传媒-rated team on the Island. 鈥淚 want them playing hard and smart. We鈥檝e had very good practices and I want to see a continuation of that.鈥�
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