The Elphinstone Cougars Junior Boys’ basketball team had quite the week. On Wednesday they came into their game against Handsworth at 2-2 in league. Losing this game would have meant a fourth-place finish in the West division and they would have to face the number one team in the first round of playoffs. A win would have placed them anywhere from second to fourth.
The first quarter was fast paced with the Cougars leading 19-13. Elphi picked up the defensive intensity in the second and third quarter and by the end of the third they were leading 46-31.
Handsworth was not going to go lightly – they made a big push in the fourth causing the Cougars to struggle, but with some key defensive stops and some free throws, Elphi came out with the 60-51 win. The Cougars were led offensively by Noah Woodin, Elan Kimpton-Cuellar and Gus Goerzen.
Next up was a three-day Lions Den JR Boys’ tournament at Yale Secondary. Elphinstone went up against South Kamloops in the first game.
After the previous day’s win, the Cougars came out flying. Shots were falling and the defence was strong. They withstood a big push in the fourth quarter by South Kamloops and came out with a 48-41 win. The offensive contributions were well spread out, led by player of the game Noah Woodin with 13 points and Gus Goerzen with 11.
The win put Elphi against Langley Christian in the semi-finals. The boys came out with the same intensity they showed Handsworth, scoring 20 first quarter points to Langley’s 12. They kept up their defensive strength for the whole game and seemed to score at will, finishing 64-41.
The Cougars led with all around great games from Ronan Loverock and Joseph Schembri and offensively had four players with 10 points or more: player of the game Elan Kimpton-Cuellar (14), Seth Starsage (13), Jake Richmond-Benner (11) and Noah Woodin (10).
The win set the stage for a final with the hometown Yale Lions. The game went back and forth and at half-time saw the Cougars trailing 26-25. The Lions leading scorer had 18 of their 26 points at the half and proved to be a tough match-up as he sunk basket after basket.
The second half started slow for Elphi; it seemed all these intense games had caught up with them as they trailed 39-29 going into the final quarter. With eight minutes left, the boys stepped up and brought the heat with a first play steal and lay up by Richmond-Benner.
The bench and handful of fans in the stands seemed to infuse some life into the boys on the floor. They got another stop and score in the following play and then went on a route. Goerzen hit his third three pointer of the quarter to cap off a 21-1 run and a 50-40 lead with only a couple minutes left.
Yale was deflated and had no answer for the newfound vigour of the Cougars, who pulled out a 53-45 win. Elphinstone was led with an amazing second-half defence by Mikhail Hanning and Schembri who held Yale’s leading scorer to only two field goals and a free throw and made him work every time he had the ball. They were led offensively by Kimpton-Cuellar with 15 points and player of the game Goerzen with 11.
Along with the first-place finish, Elan Kimpton-Cuellar and Jake Richmond-Benner were chosen as tournament All-Stars and Noah Woodin received Most Valuable Player.
This was the final tournament of the year for the JR Cougars. Next up will be league playoffs on Feb. 1.
– Submitted by Shane Heuring
