The EMCS Wolverines senior boys basketball team recorded their first win of the season at the Mark Isfeld Invitational Tournament in Courtenay on the weekend.
Game 1 — The Sooke squad played their first game on Friday against the host Isfeld Ice in front of the large home crowd. Both sides played hard in the first quarter, with Isfeld leading 18-15 after the first quarter. A lack of rebounding within the EMCS zone left the Ice with several easy putbacks and a 31-24 half time lead.
The second half, the Wolverines applied tight full-court man-to-man defence causing turnovers by the Ice that were converted narrowing the gap to 33-30 early in the third quarter. However, the offensive rebounds by Isfeld were too much for EMCS as they dropped the opening game 54-57.
Senior post Alex Wright led all scorers in the game with 15 points an a team high 14 rebounds.
Game 2 — The second game was at 8 p.m. vs. the AAA Port Alberni Armada. EMCS led after the first quarter 15-14 thanks to senior guard Ryan Albert chipping in eight points.
The return of post Ryan Ehman, coupled with stong rebounding from Grade 11 forward Tristen Griffin and Alex Wright, meant EMCS was able to keep Alberni off the offensive glass and eliminated second chance opportunities. The team took a 40-32 lead to the locker room.
The momentum carried and the Wolverines led 51-46 after three quarters and won their first game of the season 75 -64.
Chris Shankar led all scorers with 18 pts, Wright had 16 points and eight rebounds, Tristen Griffen added 10 pts four rebounds, and Brad Tajano-Smith, and Ryan Albert each contributed nine points.
Game 3 — the final game was played at 2:45 p.m. on Sunday vs. the Carihi Secondary Tyees from Cambell River.
The Wolverines were unable to score in the first quarter vs. the staunchy Tyee zone defence. Attempts to use the fast break to beat Carihi players down the floor was futile, as EMCS was charged with five offensive fouls while attempting layups.
Carihi stormed out to a 17-6 lead. both teams played great defence wich lead to a low halftime score of 23-16 in favour of the Tyees. Ryan Albert and Ryan Ehman fouled out in the third quarter, with Wright and Griffin one away from being ejected from the game.
EMCS committed 29 fouls in the game that translated to 17 points for the opposition. Carihi was victorous 55-36. The Wolverines sank five three throws from their three trips to the foul line. Chris Shankar was EMCS’s top scorer with nine points, and Grade 10 Tajano-Smith chipped in with seven.
The team missed the play of Eric Albert, who only played less than four minutes in the last two games, and the return of Ehman was an asset to rebounding all tournament.
The boys also welcome Jesse Brauer to the team. He will be in the lineup for tomorrow morning’s game against Esquimalt.