You have to consider it a win for the Bombers, despite the fact the local squad lost by just over 20 points.
The L.V. Rogers boy’s basketball team entered the BC High School Tournament ranked 15th out of 16 teams and faced the number-two ranked Sir Charles Tupper Secondary squad.
Tupper, from Vancouver, is considered one of the favourites to win the provincial title.
Despite the tough competition, the local boys kept the game close for the first half.
Both side played a little tight in the first quarter, which ended at 15-12 for Tupper.
‘We worked on some stuff because we saw video tape on them. We thought we could give them problems. We are a bit taller than they are,” said Ross Naka, the Bombers’ assistant coach.
In the second quarter, the Vancouver squad began to pull away from the Nelson team who only managed to score four points in the quarter.
However the game was still well in reach at halftime with Tupper leading 27-16.
Unfortunately, things came apart in the third quarter.
“We’re young and we got hurt on the perimeter. They became incredible successful from the three-point line,” said Naka.
In fact, 30 of the Vancouver squad’s points came from the three-point line. It was something the Bombers just couldn’t match.
In the end, the Bombers lost the opening contest 59-37.
This is the first year that the Bombers are participating in the AAA division, which is filled with powerhouse teams from the Lower Mainland.
“You want to have a chance to win with 10 minutes left. We had a chance, with 20 minutes left,” added Naka.
He said there were some mistakes made and some positives to look at.
“We lost by 20 to the number two ranked team and we turned the ball over 34 times, that’s impressive.”
With that many turnovers, the score could have been much worse, but the defence played well.
In their second game of the tournament, played on Thursday, the Bombers took on the squad from Maple Ridge secondary.
Again, the Nelson side played hard, but eventually fell 52-35.
LVR is now plying on the consolation side of the tournament.