The Burnaby South Rebels showed their strength and weakness this week.
The No. 2-ranked Rebels gave a very good account of themselves against a premier high school team from Los Angeles, finishing runner-up to former California State champion Fairfax High 80-61 in the final of the Abbotsford Snowball basketball tournament last Saturday.
The second-place finish came on the heels of a 99-67 win over honourable mention Yale, and a 96-89 victory over No. 5 Kelowna in the tournament semifinal.
“We actually played really, really well,” said South head coach Mike Bell about the loss to Fairfax. “They had talent all the way down the bench. … We left the gym feeling good about it, and you don’t often say that about a 19-point loss.”
All of that good feeling vanished almost overnight following a 78-76 defeat at Byrne Creek in a district league game on Monday afternoon.
Leading by double-digits at halftime, Bell benched the Rebels’ starting lineup for what appeared uninspired play for most of the third quarter and well into the final frame.
During that span, Byrne took full advantage, outscoring the visitors 18-8 in the third before taking a 58-51 lead with less than five minutes left on Body Geoffrey’s first of two fourth-quarter three-pointers.
Abdul Bangura also kept the pressure on South with 13 second-half points and a pair of treys. Malik Holmes led all Bulldogs with 19 points.
“At practice, we thought. ‘Let’s go out and give it everything we’ve got,’” said Geoffrey, who finished with 16 points, incuding nine in the final quarter. “We wanted to play with attitude. We didn’t give up. When they got their star five back on, we didn’t give up.”
