What an exciting weekend for basketball in the city of Chilliwack! For a few years now, most teams out of Chilliwack have been associated with lazy basketball and weak fundamentals. However, this year's edition of the Sardis Invitational Tournament showed that the overall level of basketball in Chilliwack is increasing.
Chilliwack Senior, Sardis, and G.W. Graham were the three favoured teams coming into the tournament. The Storm of Chilliwack Senior and the Sardis Falcons both brought back a number of starters from last year while G.W. Graham was a relative unknown quantity as the two returning starters (Micah Cockrill and Chris Thomson) are combining with a young group of grade ten players whose experience has been questioned by most.
The Chilliwack Storm are led by seniors Andrew Kornelsen and Andrew Wyatt who are largely supported by a pair of Kyles (Lorteau and Rollheiser). Lorteau was hampered this weekend by a nagging knee injury but the slack was picked up by Rollheiser, Wyatt, Kornelsen, as well as a number of younger contributors. It should be noted that Andrew Kornelsen is looking stronger defensively and made life a lot harder for Micah Cockrill in the Friday night semi-final. However, the Storm just could not pull together a victory on Friday against Graham and were relegated to the 3rd/4th place game against the Hope Mustangs. Kornelsen was also a major contributor against Hope and hit the game-winning shot to dash the hopes of the Mustangs.
The Mustangs also pushed Sardis to the limit in their Friday night semi-final by building a large first-quarter lead and forcing the formidable Sardis backcourt to finish the game strong. Hope has a strong group in Linden Willock, Wilson Willock, Cody Field, and a transfer from Toronto, Ontario, who will play point guard and balance the offense. Their major concern will be the lack of strong and contributing bench which will hurt the Mustangs if the starting lineup faces any significant foul trouble. However, what the Mustangs lack in bench strength is completely compensated by their heart and effort. Because of their School District #73 elementary education, these boys never learned the meaning of the word "quit" (among other words) and they come to play every game. Their opponents better be ready to play as Chilliwack (Hope recovered from a 24-12 deficit after the first quarter) and Sardis found out this weekend.
After the Hope scare, Sardis moved on to the final to face the G.W. Graham Grizzlies who had steamrolled Unity 75-33 and held off Chilliwack to advance to the final game.
The buzz on Saturday snowballed and finally, at 8:45pm, the Sardis Secondary gymnasium was filled and the final began. Micah Cockrill had scored 38 points against Unity and 25 against Chilliwack and the Falcons were ready for him. The Falcons, like the Storm, collapsed on Cockrill everytime he put the ball on the floor and made every shot for Cockrill tough. Chris Thomson made up for Cockrill in terms of field goal attempts but had a tough time putting the ball in the hoop, which reminded us all of BYU quarterback Max Hall's struggles this season of putting the ball into the hands of his receivers (and instead, into the hands of the opposing secondary). On the Sardis side of the ball, Elyas Forstbauer had a strong showing and made the most of his opportunities underneath the hoop and was Sardis' primary offensive weapon on Saturday night. The game was tight and Falcons held a narrow lead for most of the game. However, towards the end of the game, the Grizzlies younger players (Lucas Mannes, Francisco Armengual, Phoenix Lipinski, and Hank Derksen) stepped up by hitting clutch shots and pulling down key rebounds. This younger contingent for the Grizzlies, combined with a Micah Cockrill floater from the left side in the final two minutes put the Grizzlies ahead for good as they captured their first-ever Sardis Invitational Tournament championship.
December 1 was officially named "Green Shirt Tuesday" at G.W. Graham Middle-Secondary School and all team members wore their green tournament champions shirts to commemorate the team's victory.
Also participating in the tournament were the Highroad Academy Knights, Agassiz Chieftans, and Abbotsford Christian. Because there was no post-game ceremony, Fraser Valley Basketball has taken upon itself to name a tournament MVP and All-Star team.
MVP: Micah Cockrill, G.W. Graham
All-Stars:
Michael Covey, Sardis
Lucas Mannes, G.W. Graham
Andrew Kornelsen, Chilliwack
Wilson Willock, Hope
Linden Willock, Hope
The buzz on Saturday snowballed and finally, at 8:45pm, the Sardis Secondary gymnasium was filled and the final began. Micah Cockrill had scored 38 points against Unity and 25 against Chilliwack and the Falcons were ready for him. The Falcons, like the Storm, collapsed on Cockrill everytime he put the ball on the floor and made every shot for Cockrill tough. Chris Thomson made up for Cockrill in terms of field goal attempts but had a tough time putting the ball in the hoop, which reminded us all of BYU quarterback Max Hall's struggles this season of putting the ball into the hands of his receivers (and instead, into the hands of the opposing secondary). On the Sardis side of the ball, Elyas Forstbauer had a strong showing and made the most of his opportunities underneath the hoop and was Sardis' primary offensive weapon on Saturday night. The game was tight and Falcons held a narrow lead for most of the game. However, towards the end of the game, the Grizzlies younger players (Lucas Mannes, Francisco Armengual, Phoenix Lipinski, and Hank Derksen) stepped up by hitting clutch shots and pulling down key rebounds. This younger contingent for the Grizzlies, combined with a Micah Cockrill floater from the left side in the final two minutes put the Grizzlies ahead for good as they captured their first-ever Sardis Invitational Tournament championship.
December 1 was officially named "Green Shirt Tuesday" at G.W. Graham Middle-Secondary School and all team members wore their green tournament champions shirts to commemorate the team's victory.
Also participating in the tournament were the Highroad Academy Knights, Agassiz Chieftans, and Abbotsford Christian. Because there was no post-game ceremony, Fraser Valley Basketball has taken upon itself to name a tournament MVP and All-Star team.
MVP: Micah Cockrill, G.W. Graham
All-Stars:
Michael Covey, Sardis
Lucas Mannes, G.W. Graham
Andrew Kornelsen, Chilliwack
Wilson Willock, Hope
Linden Willock, Hope
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