The EMCS Wolverines won a big league game on the night of Thursday, January 17, defeating the Reynolds Roadrunners 76-73 at home. That pushed the team to 2-1 in South Island AAA League and a two-way tie for first place. Forward Quinn Yates played huge on the glass with 22 rebounds and 14 points. Shooting guard Sean Mckenzie had 17 points, and the entire team played extremely well.
Friday and Saturday saw the Wolverines take part in the Esquimalt Fire Tournament. Again, EMCS drew Reynolds in the first round, and again EMCS came out on top: this time, it was a final score of 56-48 in a great defensive game. Yates and Mckenzie led all scores with Jonah Phillip playing a huge role in the victory. Quinn Yates was named player of the game.
Saturday morning saw the Sooke boys playing a tough Parklands squad from Sidney. The game was point for point for the duration. The Wolverines used a tough 122 press to cause turn overs. With less than a minute to play, Yates drove to the hoop for two and Sean Mckenzie hit a big three to seal the victory. The end result was a 72-66 score. First year player Charlie Richardson was the player of the game.
EMCS lost in the finals, 47-65, to a tough man-to-man press by the AAAA team from Alberni. The Armada stayed mentally tough and followed their game plan.
The Sooke squad took second place for the second year in a row.
Quinn Yates and Sean Mckenzie were selected as first team all-stars.
The team resumes league play on Tuesday, January 21 at Parklands, and on Thursday night at home in a game against Spectrum at 7:30 p.m.
Submitted by Trevor Bligh