Castlegar’s high school boys’ senior basketball team ended its season with a third-place finish in the Kootenay AA Zone Qualifiers for provincials over the weekend.
The Stanley Humphries Secondary School (SHSS) Rockers headed into the third-place determining game on Saturday morning after losing their first game of the tournament against Kimberley’s Selkirk Secondary School on Friday.
The Rockers played a strong defensive game against Invermere’s David Thompson Secondary School and won 89-74.
“Our defensive pressure was really good. Our commitment to it for about three-quarters of the game went really well. That was definitely the difference for us — forcing turnovers,” said Mike Lynn, coach for the Rockers.
Overall Lynn feels the tournament went well.
“We played a solid game against Kimberley. We didn’t do quite enough on offence to win that game,” he said.
Looking forward to next year’s season, Lynn is optimistic.
“We have really high hopes for next year. Most of our starting lineup returns next year. We have players that have been committed to basketball since their elementary school years, and we have high hopes that we will make provincials next year.”
Three of this year’s players will be graduating and moving on — Ajeet Dhaliwal, Shea Jerome-Kennedy and Shawn O’Keefe — but Lynn already has his eye on some promising junior players who will move up to the senior team.
“We have some junior team players we think will be solid contributors next season,” he said.
Lynn also wanted to thank the parents, students and other fans who supported the team over the season.
“This is the best fan turnout we’ve had in my seven years coaching at Stanley Humphries and we really appreciate it. It makes the games really fun.”