The Stanley Humphries junior boys basketball team ended their season on a high note on Saturday when the Jr Rockers beat Rossland to seal a third place finish at the WK Championships held at LV Rogers in Nelson on March 2 and 3.
The girls were also in action in Castlegar on the weekend.
The Jr Rockers completed tournaments in Kelowna, Trail, and Mt. Sentinel this season as well competing in league action with Rossland Secondary, JL Crowe, Mt. Sentinel and LVR. Wins were hard to come by during the regular season, but the boys improved in every aspect of the game as the season progressed. The 14 players that lasted the entire season became known by opposing teams as ferocious defenders. Opposing teams were constantly frustrated by a combination of half court and full court defences. Scoring may have been a problem at times for the Jr. Rockers, but effort was not. The boys practiced four hours per week as a team with an additional 2.5 hours of shooting practice on separate evenings. The players represented SHSS with pride and respect for the entire season. Compliments for effort and improvement were constant from opposing coaches throughout the season.
The championship tournament opened with a Friday evening game against the Grand Forks Wolves. The Wolves jumped out to an early lead, but the Jr Rockers kept it close with their typical tenacious defence. The full court press was stifling, and the Rockers began to open a lead early in the second half. Final score in the opening game was 38 to 29 in favour of SHSS avenging an earlier loss from January. The semi-final game had SHSS matched up against LVR – the regular season champs. The boys played with heart for the entire game, but lost by a final score of 34 to 22. The 34 points allowed was the lowest total for LVR against SHSS all year – a small victory in itself. The loss put SH into the consolation final. Once again the offence started slowly and the JR Rockers found themselves trailing early. A suffocating full court press and tough half-court defence soon evened the score. Building on their momentum from the first half, the Rockers built a lead in the second and cruised to a 43-32 victory and a third place finish overall. Once again, this victory made up for two losses to Rossland during the regular season. JL Crowe defeated LVR in the final to claim the West Kootenay Championship. In the last week of the regular season, SHSS lost a heart breaker to JL Crowe by three points after leading by four going into the fourth quarter.
The Jr. Rockers have a lot to be proud of looking back at the season. They overcame much adversity and improved as individuals as well as a team. All 14 athletes played and contributed in every game of the championship tournament. Looking ahead, seven players will move onto senior basketball next year while the remaining seven will return to lead the junior squad in 2012-13.