One thing you can say about the Chemainus Secondary School Cougars senior boys basketball team: it never gives up.
The Cougars tangled with Duncan Christian School last Wednesday at Chemainus Secondary in a battle of single-A squads and lost 99-56, but didn’t go down without a fight.
“Wednesday’s game wasn’t the result we wanted,” said Chemainus coach Kyle Peruniak. “I still think we’re improving every game.
“We’re down like 30 points and we still play with the same intensity which makes it fun to watch.”
Excessive turnovers and missing some defensive assignments has been hurting the Cougars in recent outings. DCS took full advantage in both areas to build a 26-16 lead after the first quarter and extended it to 59-26 at halftime, but the Cougars held their own in the second half with a smaller scoring deficit of 40-30.
“I still feel like we’re a much better team than our record shows,” offered Peruniak. “We often get down early and it’s hard to come back from that. It makes it difficult to play hard.”
The fact the players stick with it, he added, “that says a lot about their character.”
On the other hand, full credit goes to coach Jim Brandsma’s squad.
“DCS was really on fire and we were really cold,” noted Peruniak.
“On a good day when we’re shooting well, we’re probably 30 to 35 per cent from the floor.”
Alex Loewe was the top Chemainus scorer, with sprinklings of contributions from other players.
The Cougars still have their sights set on qualifying for the Island single-A tournament Feb. 22-24 in Ucluelet.
Meanwhile, the season came to an end for the Chemainus Cougars junior boys in a 48-23 loss to Frances Kelsey.
Laine Hogstead led the scoring with 10 points and Kyle Brown also had a good game with nine points.
Five key players were out of the lineup for Chemainus.
“It was nice to give some players who haven’t seen much game time an opportunity to play more minutes,” coach Graeme Arkell pointed out. “Kyle and Laine really stood out as our best players this game. Their frequent drives to the hoop and frequent fake passes and shots gave the opposing defenders quite the challenge.”
Spring league basketball for girls is currently going on at the school Mondays from 3:15 to 4:30 p.m. More interested players are always welcome to join.