The Rockridge Ravens may want to look for a permanent residence on the Sunshine Coast.
For the second week in a row, the Ravens put on an impressive showing, winning the senior boys' basketball tournament hosted by the Elphi Cougars. Two weekends ago, Rockridge won the Chat tourney.
Last weekend, Rockridge won both its round robin games to advance straight to the final. On Friday, Rockridge beat Chat 59-36 and blew out Howe Sound from Squamish 75-31 on Saturday morning.
That set up the final against Cariboo Hill.
Earlier in the tournament, the Chargers beat Pemberton 66-37, beat Elphi 75-45 and beat Pender Harbour 60-26.
The Ravens jumped out to a 23-6 lead after one quarter, led 38-14 at halftime and looked poised to cruise to the tournament title. Cariboo Hill mounted a furious second half comeback, but it wasn't enough as the Ravens hung on for a 57-42 victory.
Jeff Schatz was named tourney MVP for the Ravens, while Mandeep Ghag was Cariboo Hill's MVP.
Other MVPs included Zed Dhalla from Howe Sound, Clayton Jones from Elphi, Jason Janis from Chat, Tucker Pantages from Pender and Ryan Hellevang from Pemberton.
"We've played well for the past two weekends," said Ravens coach Scott Farris. "We always have fun coming up here to play. The tournaments are well run and the hospitality is great. I think our team is starting to peak at just the right time. We're 3-3 in league play, but I know we can beat the teams we lost to come playoff time."
After finishing second at the Chat tournament last weekend, Chat finished third at the Elphi tourney.
Following an opening game loss to Rockridge, Chat rebounded with an 87-54 win over Howe Sound. That put Chat into the third/fourth place game against Pemberton, which Chat won convincingly 64-32.
"Friday's game against Rockridge was horrible," said Chat coach Bruce Haynes. "We couldn't make any shots and our defence was very poor. If we play the way we're capable, we win that game. I thought we played much better against Howe Sound and we played a decent game against Pemberton."
Chat returns to the gym for more practice time in preparation for a tournament next weekend at St. John's.
Pender finished sixth at the tournament after losing the fifth/sixth place game to Howe Sound 66-48.
Pender's big win came in their first game as they beat Elphi 61-57.
"Pender has some really good players," said Elphi coach Mike Sopow. "They play hard and leave it all out there on the court. It was a tough game for us to lose, but I know it was nice for Pender and a big confidence booster for them."
Elphi finished last in the tournament, losing their final game 62-61 to Pemberton.
One other highlight of the weekend was a three-point contest, which was won by Kyle Jones from Howe Sound who went 10 for 15.
"That was a lot of fun and a nice addition to the tournament," Sopow said. "We'll certainly do it again next year. We're also thinking about bringing in some smaller hoops and maybe have a slam dunk contest as well."
In North Shore League play last week, the Chat junior boys lost 67-35 to St. Thomas Aquinas and 78-20 to Sutherland to fall to 2-5.
Elphi is 1-5 in league play after losing 63-15 to Collingwood Jan. 19.
The Elphi senior boys are 0-10 in league play after losing 90-41 to Windsor last week and 82-39 to Seycove.
The Chat bantam boys fell 48-34 to Collingwood on Monday to drop to 2-2 in league play. Chat hosted West Vancouver on Wednesday past deadline.
