A second-half shooting clinic turned a tight game into a laugher Tuesday as the Kwalikum senior boys basketball team kicked off 2017 with an 80-45 home win over Highland Secondary of Comox.
Leading just 30-28 at halftime, the Kondors (8-1) came out of the break with a 21-2 run in the first five minutes of the third quarter. That barrage included one stretch of five straight three-point goals — which came from four different players.
“We can shoot the ball pretty well,” Kwalikum coach Dave Frampton said. “We just didn’t know it in the first half. It’s our first game after the break so I thought we’d be pretty rusty. But not that rusty.”
The Kondors shook off the rust quickly. Every player on the Kondors roster scored in the win, and seven different shooters combined for the team’s 11 three-point shots — 10 of which came after intermission.
“It stunned their momentum,” Grade 12 forward Sheldon Munroe said of the visiting Raiders. “They’re tired, and if you come out with just that much more intensity, you can basically win the game in the third quarter.”
Kevin Sudyko scored 14 points and Anthony Crowther added 12 to lead a balanced scoring effort for the winners. Four players — Munroe, Teddy Vukovic, Ethyn Christensen and Arne Olefs — each scored eight.
Kwalikum's Drey Dixon, right, and Highland's Liam Walsh scramble on the floor for a loose ball as Kwalikum's Kevin Sudyko (10) watches the action during the teams' Senior AA boys basketball game Tuesday night in Qualicum Beach. — Image credit: J.R. Rardon/PQB NEWS
Highland big man Kyle McLeod led all scorers with 20 points and added a game-high 13 rebounds. He scored 10 points in the first quarter as the Raiders parlayed Kwalikum’s cold early shooting and a big rebounding edge to an 18-14 first-quarter lead.
But Highland, which was missing several players to illness and Christmas break travel, could not keep pace with the smaller Kondors swarming, pressing defence and transition game.
“We gave them a half of what we had, they we just ran out of gasoline at the half,” Highland coach Scott McLeod said. “We don’t start school until next week, we’ve got guys sick, and we only had one Grade 12 (player). So, low numbers, sickness and definitely, experience was the difference. They’re a good team.”
While waiting for its shooters to warm up, Kwalikum relied on its defence to ease ahead at the half. The Kondors forced 11 second-quarter turnovers to limit the damage Kyle McLeod and fellow post Gavin Hughes (nine points, nine rebounds) were wreaking in the paint, and turned those into several transition scores.
They then wasted no time finding their shooting stroke to start the third quarter. After pounding the ball inside to Munroe for back-to-back hoops and getting a short jumper from Sudyko to push their lead to 36-28, Hughes answered for Highland with a single basket down low.
That’s when the aerial bombardment began, sparked by Vukovic’s three-pointer with 7:35 left in the period. Sudyko followed with another three, then Vukovic again, followed by Christensen and Crowther. By the time the dust settled, Kwalikum’s slender halftime lead was suddenly 51-30, and half of the period still remained.
“I thought today their team just fatigued a lot,” Frampton said of the Raiders. “They should have been fine at the beginning of the third quarter, but we jumped ‘em then and it kind of took the heart out of them.”
Highland also got away from its bread-and-butter of McLeod and Hughes in the low post and began flinging up three-point attempts of their own in an effort to close the gap. But those shots were not falling, and the Kwalikum lead bulged to as high as 37 points when Sudyko’s three-pointer midway through the fourth quarter made it 75-38.
Highland did finish with a 45-39 rebounding advantage, with Roman McKenzie leading the Kondors with nine boards. But Kwalikum won the ball-control battle, forcing 26 Raiders turnovers while coughing up the ball just 14 times.
“In our division, Kwalikum’s the best team, and we’re second,” Scott McLeod said. “They’re definitely a step above us, but we hope by the end of the year to make it a lot closer.”