It wasn’t the destination stop they wished for, but the New Westminster Hyacks senior boys basketball team displayed passion and perseverence along the journey.
New West fell short of its season-long goal – a seat at the table for next week’s 4-A provincial championships in Langley – after falling 93-51 to the No. 4-ranked Kitsilano Blue Demons last Thursday in a Lower Mainland consolation semifinal.
After one quarter the separation was just eight points, but that gulf grew as the Blue Demons got a standout effort from guard Luka Lizdek, who put a clamp-like coverage on New West's Norman Manacsa.
Prior to that game, Manacsa had been averaging over 30 points in the Lower Mainland series, cashing in 17 three-pointers over the previous three games. Against Kits, the senior guard was held to just 19 points.
"Norman was just dialled in, everything he put up went in," remarked Hyacks head coach Arno Richter. "He desperately wanted to win, and was just incredible for us in the playoffs. But in the end he ran up against one of the best guards in the province."
For Richter, the lesson that comes from such a loss was outweighed by the journey itself.
“The boys got a taste of what (provincial) atmosphere is like and I think they really felt it,” he said. “We lost but we ended it, for us, on a great note if we look back a day earlier in the win over (Sir Winston) Churchill.”
One of a series of must-win Mainland contests after the team’s 95-67 defeat at the hands of Killarney on Feb. 15, the win over Churchill was a huge achievement, although the two teams had similar storylines and flight paths to that place in Richmond.
Each were considered minor successes in top-heavy leagues with highly ranked rivals. Both had winning records and a track record of keeping within striking distance against the area’s top-rated squads. Getting over that hump had been a consistent battle, however.
Leading by 14 at the half, New West was caught in Churchill’s crosshairs as the Vancouver school mounted an impressive rally to take a three-point lead. But the Hyacks didn’t fold, instead riding Manacsa's hot hand, who put up 33 points in what was the team's biggest victory of the year.
Delivering some timely buckets was Grade 11 forward Luka Cuk.
The defence also stepped up big, said Richter.
“It was probably our best defensive performance of the season."
In the previous win, 80-61 over Burnaby-New West league rival Moscrop, Manacsa canned 37 points.
And while the squad graduates seven players -- including starters Francis Federipe, Harman Sandhu and Manacsa -- the program has a good core of guards coming up from the junior program, as well as some steady returning players. Losing the likes of Trew Dancey, Prento Durigon and Jacob Long-Aitchison lowers the height bar for the team, with only Grade 11 post Paul Richter breaking the six-foot-three barrier.
"We'll be talented from the guard side of things, but we won't be very big," said Richter. "We'll be meaninfully smaller, but the returning players have got a taste of what this is like and I think the junior players coming up will make us competitive. I think the school took a step forward and was very competitive in both junior and Grade 9."
