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New Year ramps up need for consistency

New West Hyacks still a bit of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the hardwood
Hyack layup
The New Westminster Hyacks enter the second month of the B.C. High School senior boys basketball season still looking to put together a consistent effort, while showing flashes of a team capable of being a serious threat to some of their better rivals.

It isn’t hard to look at a 93-70 setback and see the bad – what New West Hyacks head coach Ted Cusick is searching for is the silver lining.

In a tough match-up against a strong Pitt Meadows Marauders squad on Saturday, the senior boys Hyacks showed flashes of both silver and sand in an exhibition loss.

“It wasn’t a game you want to dwell on – we were just too loosy-goosy,” remarked Cusick.

When you grant your opponent a 23-3 head start, it’s easy to see white flags everywhere. But credit to New West for not giving up, and actually battling back to take a 66-64 lead early in the fourth quarter.

But that run ended, and Pitt finished by tallying 25 of the last 30 points to grab a ‘comfortable’ 23-point victory.

“Our heads weren’t in it, but these kids didn’t give up. They chipped away to get ahead. But (Pitt) shot the lights out,” added Cusick. “It’s easy to shoot the lights out when no one is checking you.”

Putting up 20 points in the loss was Kirk Bothwell, along with five assists. Caleb Johnson delivered 13 points, while Kevin Guillermo netted 10 points.

Coming on the heels of the pre-break 73-70 victory over 3-A ranked A.R. MacNeill, which locked up a Bob Gair Classic tourney title, the cold performance was more evidence that consistency remains elusive for this Hyacks crew.

“We’re hot and cold, not just one game to the next, but one minute to the next,” noted the coach. “With this Jekyll and Hyde team, every game is a good test.”

New West plays this weekend in the Sir Winston Churchill tourney, that kicked off with a 66-62 loss to Eric Hamber on Wednesday. Bradie Traverse topped all New West shooters with 22 points before fouling out, while Quentin Leberg tallied 17 points and 18 rebounds. Chipping in with six points apiece were Luke Dixon and Udhay Mangat.

Today (Thursday) they cross paths with Richmond.

On Monday, the Hyacks visit Moscrop in a Burnaby-New West league encounter. New West sits mid-pack at 1-1 after two games, falling 76-72 to Burnaby North, and beating Cariboo Hill 97-50, both last month.