The ups and downs of a long basketball season are part of the journey that produces champions.
For their first week, the Burnaby South Rebels can say they’ve glimpsed a bit of that route, and are ready to venture forward.
The senior boys Rebels launched the 2016-17 AAA hoop season with four games at the Heritage Woods Kodiaks Klassic tournament in Port Moody, posting a 3-1 record along the way.
Three of those games were against opponents ranked higher in the Province pre-season AAA poll – where Burnaby South was slotted sixth.
Losing 91-76 on Friday to the No. 1-rated and eventual tourney champions from Walnut Grove was a slap to the system, but one head coach Randy Edwards feels may serve as a timely reminder.
“That show (Friday) wasn’t indicative of who we were,” said Edwards. “I think we got a little shell-shocked, and its good, I think good to get punched in the face one time, early in the season, just so you realize you are not at the top of the food chain, and you do have to work a little harder and dig a little deeper.”
They responded just as their coach hoped, knocking off No. 3 rated Kitsilano on Saturday 86-77 to claim the tourney’s third-place prize.
Grade 11 forward Yusuf Sehic was selected to the Klassic first all-star team, while guard Vince Sunga was named to the second all-star squad.
The Rebels only trailed briefly, early in the second quarter when back-to-back treys leveraged Kitsilano ahead 30-28, before Burnaby gained some breathing room by out-scoring the Vancouver school 23-16 over that same frame.
C.J. Campbell counted a team-high 19 points, while Sunga scored 15 points and Sehic 11 of his own.
Against Walnut Grove, Noah Pastrana tallied 16 points and Kenan Krupic chipped in 12.
After beginning the tourney with an opening 76-55 victory over honourable mention Yale, the Rebels drew No. 2 ranked Kelowna and ran a roller coaster before prevailing 78-73. Down 20-7 after one quarter, Burnaby turned the tables and led 34-29 at the half. The tables turned again in the fourth quarter after a 20-point lead vanished and Kelowna pulled ahead on a 23-point run.
But the Rebels did a quick gut-check and righted the ship.
“We went into cruise control all of a sudden,” remarked Edwards. “I called a timeout and said, ‘Come on, you’re better than this.’ They showed they were better than this.”
Sehic put up 15 points and Sunga was in for 14.
“We were hitting our shots and got feeling good about it,” said Campbell, a Grade 12 forward. “Against Kelowna we were up by 20 but – they came back. We just have to stay focused and keep playing defence the whole game.”
Being ranked is nothing new for the Burnaby squad, and Edwards said his charges, whom he coached to provincial titles in Grade 8 and 9, are well-versed in the pressures of high competition. His expectations are high but attainable.
“I expect these guys to get better and grow as a team. I expect them to compete in every single game we’re in, I don’t want us to be in a game where we’re not competing.
“Competing doesn’t mean win, it means playing to our level, what we practice is what we preach,” he said.
The Rebels, who beat Alpha on Monday to start the Burnaby-New West league regular season, hosts Cariboo Hill tonight at 6:45 p.m.
