Mark Twyford didn't waste anytime assessing the moment even after his senior boys basketball team came through with a big league opener win.
“Their best player Kevin Dhillon wasn’t playing tonight,” stated Twyford after his Richmond Colts had pulled out a 69-63 win over the visiting Cambie Crusaders. “It happens sometimes but we realized they are still a good and solid team. It was nice to see the guys dig deep and get their first (league) victory of the season.”
It’s been an up and down start through the first three weeks of the season for the defending city champions which is hardly a surprise given the amount of experience on the roster.
Last spring, the Colts were pencilled in as one of the teams to beat again, led by the potential one-two punch of first team all-star Grade 11 guard Jon Mikhlin and Grade 12 forward Jeremy Bariso. However, the outlook took a sudden turn when Mikhlin transferred to St. George’s.
Twyford simply moved ahead with the players that wanted to be wearing the legendary maroon and white school colours. He praised the early season play of Phil Gundic.
“Right now, it’s about guys getting a chance to start and getting them experience,” said the Richmond High grad who took on the coaching duties, along with his brother Matt, at the start of last season. “We have been working a lot in practice on conditioning and you are starting to see it come into fruition in games.
“We want to get teams into foul trouble by attacking the rim and wearing them down. We will keep doing lots of running. Even during the break, the guys will be coming to my house and they will be running out in the cold.”
The Colts will also stay active over the holiday break, participating at tournament in Port Moody next week. They will face New West in the opening round on Monday.
The Steveston-London Sharks will also be back on the court before the new year, heading to Seattle for the Tourament of Champions at renowned Franklin High. Head coach Mike Stoneburgh likes to take his team down south each year to give his players a taste of U.S. high school basketball and added exposure too.
The Sharks will open play against Spanaway Lake on Monday. They improved to 3-0 in city league play last week with wins over McNair (91-74) and Burnett (99-43).
RC Palmer Griffins were down in California last week where the managed a victory over O’Farrell High and also slipped past San Diego High 48-54 on a last second basket by Marko Stojanovic.
The No. 5 AAA ranked McMath Wildcats closed out 2015 with a flourish, producing four straight wins last week, including an 81-73 exhibition win over No. 5 St. Thomas More. The Wildcats also toppled Brookswood of Langley 66-48, while producing league wins over Richmond Christian (76-46) and McRoberts (73-54). They finish a wildly busy 18-day stretch with a 12-2 record.
The young McNair Marlins keep making early season strides, finishing second at the Bob Gair Classic in New West. McNair reached the final with wins over North Delta (85-64) and the host Hyacks (86-76) before falling to Ladner’s Delta Pacers (81-57) in the final.
