The Kwalikum Secondary Kondors senior boys season came to a finish this past weekend at the AA provincial championships in Langley, where they finished 14th, winning one of four games.
It was a tough draw for the Kondors, who were ranked sixth out of the gate as they took on the Delview Raiders in their first game.
The Raiders were ranked second in the province all season, and came in to the tournament ranked 11th after an upset in their regional playdowns.
The Kondors would lose the first game of the tournament 87–52.
“We knew we were in tough that first game,” head coach Butch Gayton said. “Delview was playing some solid basketball all season long and were upset so they fell in the tournament rankings quite a bit.”
“It was a challenge and they showed why they were ranked number two all season.”
Their second game came against number three ranked Golden, who was upset in their first game.
The Kondors would go on to lose their second straight game, 83-44, making it so they couldn’t finish in the top 10 in the tournament.
“That was tough for us,” Gayton said. “Game one was tough and then to see the number three ranked team in the tournament for our second game, we weren’t expecting that.”
“We played hard but it really showed just how polished a lot of these teams really are compared to how we were. That’s not a knock on our boys but we just saw two teams right off the hopper that were very well rounded and didn’t make a lot of mistakes.”
In game three, the Kondors found their footing and found the win column.
They were up against Nechako Valley and came out on top 56–43.
The Kondors spread the scoring around and the highlight of the game, and tournament, went to Wylder Carson-Austin who threw down a breakaway dunk that sent fans and teammates into a frenzy.
“By far the highlight of the tournament for us,” Gayton said. “Just the reaction of the fans and our bench alone was great, but to see the smile on Wylder’s face was pretty great too. You could tell he was pretty happy with himself after throwing one down like that.”
“After that game, it was great to see the smiles back on their faces, it really brought them back after losing two tough games.”
The Kondors would go on to lose their final game of the tournament, 66-54 to Britannia, bringing their season to an end.
“These boys had a great season,” Gayton said. “Barry (Bevilacqua) did a fantastic job with the boys all season long and we really came a long way as the year went along.”
“We knew we were a good team but once we started winning all those games, it really sunk in for us.”
“Winning at home against Lambrick Park in the Islands was huge and the support from the community during our season was just spectacular, it really was.”