Seeded 15th going into the 17-team B.C. Christian Schools senior boys basketball championship tournament last weekend, the Duncan Christian School Chargers showed they were underestimated, and improved their ranking to ninth.
The seeding was actually in part because the Chargers couldn’t make it to Surrey for a 10:15 a.m. game on Friday, but DCS still wasn’t expected to finish as high as they did.
The Chargers opened the tournament with a 79-50 loss to Heritage Christian, the No. 2-ranked single-A team in B.C. Matt Brandsma led the way with 14 points and tied Vince Fernandez with seven rebounds. Fernandez also had eight points, while Josaia Nolin led the team in rebounds, with nine, and steals, with three.
“Pretty good effort all around,” coach Jim Brandsma commented. “But we looked a little raw and our shooting was not as good.”
That was followed by a better performance resulting in a 76-47 win over White Rock Christian. Matt Brandsma had 17 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and four steals, Nolin had 19 points and six boards, Fernandez had five steals and four assists, Jesse Greir chipped in with nine points, and Elvis Kerote led the way with six steals.
“We had a really good defensive game along with pretty high shooting percentage,” Jim Brandsma said. “This was a solid effort all the way around from all 11 guys. It was a fun game to watch as everyone was able to contribute in some way.”
Despite a slow start in their last game, against Richmond Christian — coach Brandsma called the first quarter a “tragedy” as the Chargers scored only five points — the Chargers managed to regroup and ended up prevailing 59-34.
“After some halftime discussion we able to start pulling away despite poor shooting,” Jim Brandsma explained. “What we couldn’t do in shooting we were able to make up for in defensive effort.”
Nolin paced the team with 15 points, six steals and five rebounds. Nick Harder had 13 points, Matt Brandsma had nine points, seven rebounds, four steals and four assists, Jordan Wilson had six rebounds and seven points, Fernandez had seven steals and five rebounds, and Kerote added four steals and five boards.
“Again another solid effort all the way around,” Jim Brandsma said. “Really proud of how the guys played, and their defensive effort, especially where we managed to average 23 steals a game. Still some wrinkles to iron out, which makes the remainder of the season an exciting prospect.”
Matt Brandsma was named a tournament all-star.
Just before Christmas, the Chargers placed third at a tournament at Highland Secondary in Comox. DCS beat Ucluelet 49-45 in their first game, then lost 74-33 to Pacific Christian, and finally got by Brooks Secondary 62-59 in the bronze-medal match.