Brentwood College didn’t enjoy the same favourable finish from the South Island championships in a rematch against St. Michael’s University School.
Playing for the island AA senior boys’ basketball title at St. Michael’s Saturday, Brentwood went down to a crushing 56-38 defeat. Brentwood won the South Island crown the previous week by defeating St. Michael’s 57-56.
“The wheels fell off,’’ said Brentwood coach Blake Gage of the latest clash.
“We’ve been winning so many games close and not playing well, maybe it was good for us to get kicked.’’
The good news is Brentwood still goes to the provincial tournament March 7 to 10 as the island No. 2 representative.
Despite the lopsided loss, Brentwood still only trailed by 12 with six minutes to go — lots of time to close the gap.
However, “it felt like we were down by 25,’’ said Gage.
“SMU played really well. They’re very well-coached. Our goal was to get off the island. Make no mistake, we’re not happy about losing the way we did.’’
Brentwood has been climbing the ladder at the last three provincials, going from 13th to eighth to third.
Brentwood will open the tournament at Kamloops this time against Sa-Hali.
“They play hard and they’re a good team,’’ said Gage.
Earlier in the island tournament, Brentwood beat Wellington 73-53 with a strong second half and outlasted Lambrick Park 59-50.
The Lambrick game found Brentwood down 13 points late in the third quarter and seven into the fourth.
“To the guys’ credit, we did play an aggressive fourth quarter,’’ said Gage.
Brentwood’s Shalev Sharabi and David Lawrence were first-team island all-stars. Jordan Charles was named to the second team.
Tinney timely with three-pointer
The Brentwood College senior girls posted a win and two losses in the island AA basketball tournament at Wellington.
Brentwood took it on the chin from Wellington in the first game, losing 77-22.
But the team bounced back to beat Kwalikum 56-55 on a three-pointer by Ailish Tinney with no time left. Tinney finished with 19 points, Madlen Anderson had 13 and Tajzha Doman added 12.
Brentwood completed the tournament with a 64-58 loss to Woodlands despite 29 points from Anderson.
“The team played with a lot of heart and determination all season and should be proud of their accomplishments,’’ noted coach Jenna Warner.
Shawnigan Lake School played without Nicole Crowley and lost both its games to Woodlands and Nanaimo District.