Peter Skene Secondary School’s Eagles basketball team enjoyed a weekend of competitive basketball during the second annual South Cariboo Winter Classic.
Held at PSO from Friday, Feb. 9 to Saturday, Feb. 10 the event saw six teams from across the Interior come out to compete. While the Eagles were unable to beat Quesnel’s Correlieu Secondary School Coyotes in the finals, Eagles head coach Andrew Steeves said his team was all smiles after the game.
“I really loved the engagement we had from the fans. That’s where I see the progress in 100 Mile basketball. We had students coming out to the games, we got kids’ parents and we also had general fans of basketball just coming to watch the guys play now,” Steeves said. “People were cheering when fun stuff was happening and it was just a really great atmosphere of basketball happening all weekend.”
During the round-robin portion of the tournament, Steeves said his team went undefeated beating their longtime rivals the Lake City Secondary School Falcons and the Hope Secondary School Mustangs decisively. In the semi-finals, they played the Barriere Secondary School Cougars who have been developing a friendly rivalry with the Eagles this season.
When the Eagles faced off against the Coyotes in the finals Steeves and his team were looking forward to testing their mettle. Correlieu has a strong basketball program and earlier this year handed the Eagles a decisive blowout during a tournament in Williams Lake.
Throughout the finals Steeves said his team played at a high level, even once coming back from a 20-point deficit. Ultimately the Coyotes beat them with a score of 74 to 62. Even though they lost Steeves and his team were happy at how close they came to beating such a strong team.
“These guys have put in a lot of hard work. As coaching staff we have high expectations, big demands of what these guys need to learn on a week-to-week basis and it’s really starting to show in the way that they play,” Steeves remarked. “I’ve talked a lot about becoming a competitive basketball team and we are there. The guys are putting in their maximum effort and that’s all we, as coaches, can ask of them.”
Following the tournament Steeves recognized several key players for the effort they put in. Ahmed Omer and Max Sankey both received tournament All-Star Awards, which was especially exciting for Sankey who is only in Grade 9. Everett Hollett, meanwhile, was named the tournament’s defensive MVP and is progressing into a really good basketball player, Steeves noted.
“Really at the end of the day the atmosphere and environment we’re trying to create here is that winning is great but at the end of the day having some fun is most important and I could see that our whole team had a really fun weekend,” Steeves said.
The Eagles are hosting the North Central Double A Zones on Feb. 22 to 24. The winner of the tournament will go on to represent the Zone at provincials. All are welcome to come watch and cheer on the team.