Shawnigan Lake School senior boys basketball head coach Vito Pasquale doesn’t like losing to Brentwood College, but if that happens this weekend, there will be a silver lining.
The only way Shawnigan will meet Brentwood at the AA Island championships this weekend is if both teams reach the final. By that point, they will have both locked up berths at provincials.
“It’s been a pattern the past year,” Pasquale acknowledged. “but we’re looking forward to this weekend being the same pattern, because that will mean we’ve qualified for B.C.’s.”
Host Brentwood beat Shawnigan 86-41 in the final of the South Island tournament last Saturday, but both teams had already qualified for the Island championships by virtue of making the top two.
“It would seem, after playing them four times already, we’d learn from one game to the next, but they are the bunch they are,” Pasquale said. “They’re a mature, experienced team, which is what we want to be down the road.”
Although his team was yet again unable to solve Brentwood, Pasquale was happy with his team’s first two games as Shawnigan beat Pacific Christian 88-64 in the first round last Tuesday and St. Michaels University School 74-44 in the semifinal on Wednesday.
“It can be hard to get the guys pumped up to play the lower seeds,” Pasquale said.
Brentwood had a bye through the first round of the South Island meet, then beat Lambrick Park 90-37 in the semifinals to set up the meeting with Shawnigan.
“The boys played really well in both games,” Brentwood head coach Blake Gage said. “[Lambrick and Shawnigan] are both good teams, but I think we’re at a point where we control our own destiny a bit. We need to play hard and play the way we like to play, and if we can do that, we’re pretty tough. We’ve got some good jump in us, we’re healthy, and we’re as fit as we’ve been all year.”
Both Valley teams advanced to Islands at SMUS this weekend, with two provincial berths guaranteed, while the third-place squad will face an Okanagan team for a wildcard spot.
The defending B.C. champs and the top-ranked AA team in the province all season, Brentwood will be the favourite at Islands, but Gage knows nothing is guaranteed.
“AA on the Island is always pretty strong, and there are a lot of good coaches,” he said. “They’ll be looking for ways to take us out of our stuff and test us; they’ll be really prepared. The question for us is playing our game.”