Nice to see Valley Players doing well

Valley Talented Hoop Stars excel down Island

Comox Valley hoops talent took centre stage at the 20th annual Vancouver Island High School Classic All-Star Games, April 7 at St. Margaret’s School in Victoria.

Eleven senior boys and girls took part, with all three local secondary schools well represented: G.P. Vanier - Alyson Schmidt, Katie Armstrong, Mike Greer, Simon Nessman, Jay Valeri and Nick Adair; Highland - Kate-Rae Stewart, Scott Young and Ryan MacKinnon; Mark Isfeld - Keenan Milburn and Peter Christianson.

The Boys B game was up first, with the North Island pulling away in the second half for an 85-70 win. Milburn quarterbacked the victory and earned Player of the Game honours for his 19 points (including three treys) and numerous assists. Nessman and Greer helped turn the tide in the North’s favour with numerous steals while Greer added an acrobatic 10 points and Nessman drove through heavy traffic for tough lay-ups and 13 points.

Young finished with eight points and several rebounds. It was the second win in as many years for the North Island B boys, who also had Brian Richter of Carihi in their lineup.

The Girls game was up next, and the South Island eked out a 65-56 win to lay claim to their second straight year of Island bragging rights. University-bound Schmidt tallied nine points (one trey), Armstrong added nine and Rae-Stewart hit for five (one trey). Carihi’s Richelle Rafknjelson and Tawny Roberts were also in the North lineup.

The Boys A game put the “classic” in this year’s Classic as the South Island led most of the way but needed overtime to post a 108-102 win. The North Island (who won last year) were heavy favourites to repeat, what with two Dover Bay boys (B.C. AAA champs), a strong player from Ladysmith (B.C. AA champs) and four Valley boys who represented the region extremely well at Provincials and the B.C. High School All-Star game.

MacKinnon led all scorers with 24 points and dished 11 assists, Christianson played tough defence and added eight points, Valeri battled hard against some big bodies and contributed six points and Adair had some incredible blocks and tallied seven points.

Player of the Game Elliot Rushton (Oak Bay) had the South in front midway through the second half when Christianson stole two passes and hustled in for two big baskets. Still down by nine late in the half, Valeri hit a trey to pull the North within six, then in the last minute MacKinnon hit two long threes to tie the game.

The North had a chance to win at the buzzer with a fantastic pass from MacKinnon to Adair, but Adair was unable to convert in heavy traffic. In the five-minute overtime, the North could not finish inside while the South drained some long bombs from somewhere in the vicinity of beautiful downtown Blanshard Street to take the win.

“It was a great way for all high school seniors to end their prep hoops careers, and showed all those present that the Comox Valley produces some fine basketball talent,” said Vanier vice-principal Hugh MacKinnon.