The Burnaby Lakers were without junior A coach Mike O'Reilly, but the result was still the same.
Burnaby Lakers junior A head coach Mike O'Reilly was granted an extended leave of absence, according to general manager Gary Passmore, adding he intends to revisit O'Reilly's position with the team at some later point in the season, but no talks have been scheduled to date.
With Passmore behind the bench, the junior A Lakers took over sole possession of last place in the B.C. Junior Lacrosse League, losing the battle of the bottoms 18-12 to the Nanaimo Timbermen at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre on Sunday.
In a familiar scenerio this season, Burnaby fell behind 6-1 to start the first period and could not recover.
The following period, the two teams showed precious little defence, exchanging 14 goals between them, including 10 in the first nine minutes.
Nanaimo's Corey Shires and Brett Hawrys did most of the damage, scoring six and seven goals, respectively.
"It's always nice to get that first (win), said Shires, who potted a natural hat trick in a one-minute span of the second period that all but ended any chance of a Burnaby comeback.
Hawrys led all scorers with a 10-point outing.
"We're trying to take the positives with the negatives and work harder," said the 19-year-old Shires. "Good things happen, like the W."
The loss was Burnaby's 12th consecutive defeat since edging Nanaimo by a single goal back in May.
The Lakers trailed the T-Men by six goals heading into the final period and fell behind by as many as nine goals before Justin Appels, Tyler Kirkby and captain Peyton Lupul all scored to earn their hat tricks.
With a lineup made even thinner by the absence of four players at a world field lacrosse qualifying event, Burnaby is not giving up, said Lupul.
"I don't think so. Everyone in the dressing room still wants to play, and we want to get as many wins as possible, even if the playoffs are not in our season," Lupul said. "We still want to play with some pride and some honour."
Burnaby's next home game is Sunday against the Victoria Shamrocks. Game time is an early 5 p.m.
