Seeking gold, the VCI Bears Varsity boys played a strong team in the final game of the provincial tournament, but took home silver.
The three-day competition featured eight teams: Immanuel Christian School Falcons from Winnipeg, Prairie Mountain/Notre Dame Predators from Somerset, West Park Royals from Portage la Prairie, Hapnot Hopper Kings from Flin Flon, MacGregor Mustangs from MacGregor, Green Valley Pirates from Grunthal, Gabrielle Roy Les Roys from Ile Des Chenes and the host Virden Collegiate Bears.
In their lone round-robin match on opening day, the Bears defeated the Falcons 90 to 69. They then advanced to the A-Side Semi-Final against the Predators and were victorious by a score of 77 to 63. With the victories, the Bears next faced the Les Roys, who were looking for a repeat of their 2022 championship win in Portage La Prairie. Despite a valiant effort, with dozens of hometown fans cheering them on, the Bears dropped a 97 to 68 decision to the Les Roys, who came away with their second consecutive gold medal and championship banner.
For Coach Matthew Chammartin, the win put the cap on a successful season where his squad returned to full league play after a COVID-19 hiatus.
“We started off with a group that was really somewhat unknown to me,” he said. “We only had a few seniors returning from last year’s provincial championship team, but the group came together really quickly. We started our season early and started out fairly strong. (Our returning players) really led the team in terms of just bringing the energy and the proper attitude and effort to our practices. We dealt with some injuries towards the last part of the season and fortunately everyone was able to be on the court and be fairly healthy for our run to the provincial championships.
Chammartin indicated they were prepared for the Virden team. “We always identify as a defence first team. We’ve seen and we’re very familiar with the Virden team and we know who their strongest players were and the players that we really needed to do a good job defending. The guys really executed our game plan very well with great energy. I think that’s what won us the game.”
Bears Coach Cody McPhee was pleased with the success of the tournament.
“The tournament overall went very well,” he said. “We actually won second against the same team (the Les Roys) in the finals in Junior Varsity last year. We went undefeated in zone (play) and didn’t really have any close games, and then ended up winning it. We were hosting so we didn’t have to play a provincial qualifier.”
He assessed his team’s final effort as they faced the Les Roys. “I felt that we didn’t turn up as well as we could have (in the championship game). We looked scared…we looked nervous…we didn’t really think things through as well as we usually do. (There were) a lot of bad turnovers, a lot of missed shots…shots that we would usually make and we had the crowd cheering us on but I guess it wasn’t enough.”
McPhee is confident in his team’s future.
“We’ve got a lot of Grade 11’s who are going to be Grade 12’s next year,” he said. “So I’m looking forward to having a really strong team again next year.”
Four players – Zach Wheeler, Owen Andrew, Oliver Nolan and Ayo Fashola are set to graduate in June.
Notes:
- Virden Bears Grade 11 forward Finn Abel was named a Tournament All-Star.
- Gabrielle Roy Les Roys Grade 10 guard Stellan Chammartin was named as the Tournament Most Valuable Player
