Most athletes are familiar with the ups and downs that sports can bring, and if the Elphinstone senior boys basketball team was not familiar with them, they surely were after their last week of basketball.
After starting the season strong, with a victory over Rockridge and a good showing at the Westsyde tournament in Kamloops, the boys travelled to Carson Graham. Elphinstone looked tired after their long weekend in Kamloops and started the game off sloppy, with several turnovers leading to easy baskets for the home team. Things only got worse for Elphinstone when Elan Kimpton-Cuellar, who just came back from an ankle injury before Kamloops, went down again with another ankle injury. The Elphinstone Cougars could not overcome their lethargic start and loss of their teammate and went on to lose the game 68 to 38.
Next up for the Cougars was the GW Graham AA and AAA showcase tournament that features some of the top teams for those two levels. First up for the Cougars was a top 10 ranked Britannia Bruins. The Bruins transition game proved too much for the Cougars to handle and coach Mike Sopow acknowledged that he should have taken off the press as it was not effective against the up-tempo Bruins. Gus Goerzen had a great offensive game, racking up 27 points, but the Cougars would go on to lose 84 to 61.
Elphinstone next had a rematch from the Westsyde tournament with Sahali. Joesph Schembri and Ben Luporini got Elphinstone off to a quick start and the Cougars finally looked to turn the corner and overcome their slump. The game continued back and forth, but the Cougars faced another setback when one of their guards had to come out just before the half and could not continue. The rest of the team continued to battle hard, but found themselves behind by four in the closing seconds of the game.
Elphinstone executed their sideline play with Phillip Fogarty setting a screen to get Gus Goerzen open for a three, which he calmly knocked down, but Elphi could not get the steal off the pursuing inbound and Sahali knocked down their free throws to win the game 84 to 81 beating Elphi in the rematch. Gus Goerzen again had a terrific offensive outing with a 30 point effort.
Elphi’s final game of the tournament came against MEI. Noah Woodin led the charge for Elphinstone, who got off to a good start. But the Cougars’ bad luck continued with Gus Goerzen receiving an elbow that opened up a gash on the top of his head, causing him to leave the game.
Jesse Umayat and Ben Luporini did their best to fill the offensive void, but the Cougars had trouble scoring and started to give up too many easy transition baskets to MEI, who went on to win the game 85 to 58.
The Elphinstone Cougars were looking to turn their fortunes around this week with games against West Van and Handsworth on Tuesday and Thursday. Elphinstone also had their home tournament this Friday and Saturday with games starting at 11:30 a.m. on the Friday. The first game is between Elphinstone and Chatelech and will be televised on Coast Cable.
– Submitted
