Oak Bay solidified its hold atop the Island’s senior boys basketball by capturing the Victoria City Police Tournament.
The Bays dropped the host St. Michaels Blue Jags 63-55 in Saturday’s final.
“Matt Grey had a very good final game and the boys are playing pretty solid right now,” said Oak Bay coach Chris Franklin.
“I think we were able to wear them down physically a little bit and that helped out in the end. All the games we play against St. Mike’s every year are pretty close.”
Grey paced the Bays with 25 points in the final on his way to earning tournament MVP. Oak Bay’s Atlas St. Paul Butler was named to the tournament all-star team.
Oak Bay opened the tournament with a convincing 81-33 win over the Spectrum Thunder before getting past the Lambrick Park Lions 74-60 in the semifinal.
“We have pretty good balance on our team. I think every game in the tournament someone else was leading scorer,” said Franklin. “I’m pretty lucky that way, we’ve got good balance and a lot of skilled players. That’s one of the things that really helped us this year.”
That balance has allowed the Bays to hold down the No. 3 spot in the B.C. boys AAAA rankings, behind Port Coquitlam’s Terry Fox Ravens and the Burnaby South Ravens.
Franklin said the tournament was just one step for the Bays as they progress towards the provincial championships in March.
“The guys are playing solid basketball, you just want them to continue to get better,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll be in a good place and be healthy and see how it goes in the end.”
West Vancouver Highlanders toppled Lambrick Park 72-63 to claim third place in the tourney. St. Michaels brushed back the Highlanders 64-41 to advance to the finals. The Blue Jags currently hold down the No. 2 ranking for AA senior boys while Lambrick Park is in the No. 3 spot.
editor@oakbaynews.com