Bring On Sa-Hali!! Rainmakers advance to Semi-Finals at AA Tournament

The Charles Hays Rainmakers continued on their path towards a potential provincial championship, knocking down the Westsyde Whundas from Kamloops in Quarter Final action on Thursday afternoon at the Langley Events Centre.

The Makers built a slow but steady lead as the forty minutes of tournament play moved on through the late afternoon, holding a thirteen point lead by the half and then pushing hard through the third to hold a 73 to 49 advantage at the three quarter mark.

The Westsyde group kept the Rainmakers on their toes, but never really were able to develop any consistency on their offensive attack and as they began to slip further and further off the Charles Hays pace.

The risks that the Kamloops team took tended to work in favour of the Rainmakers who took advantage of turnovers and shut down any approaching threats with some strong play in their own end of the court.

While the Whundas made a good run through the final quarter knocking down nineteen points, the Charles Hays Seniors were never rattled by that burst of offence and shut the door firmly through the final ten, never allowing the Westsyde to get close enough to be much of a threat by the time the 87-68 Final had been recorded.

Kai Leighton had a dominant game on the court for Charles Hays, rattling off 29 points and 12 boards, a performance that stood out on the afternoon, with the Rainmaker starter named game MVP for his hard work on the day.

Game Boxscore

As fate will turn out, the road to the Finals will once again pass through a Kamloops team, as the Sa-Hali Sabres advanced to the Friday showdown with the Makers that on the strength of their quarter final victory over Abbotsford Christian.

The Sa-Hali squad has a few offensive skills to bring to the play and a match up to watch for will be Jaydian Smith vs Liam McChesney as the Friday battle gets underway.

Thursday the 6' 7" Smith had a monster of a game on the Boards, collecting 30 rebounds for the Sabres through the forty minutes of the late afternoon.

The two teams will be a prime time attraction on Friday, with the tip off set for 8:45 PM, you can still purchase day passes through the TFSE streaming site.

Rainmaker Fans can take in the Semi-Final action from Langley from the
video feed at the Multi-Purpose room at Charles hays on Friday evening

Or if you wish to cheer on the Rainmakers amongst a crowd of Maker fanatics, drop into the Multi Purpose Room at the Prince Rupert Boulevard campus at Charles Hays.

The school will be streaming the Semi-Final to the Big Screen from the 8:45 tip on.

Updates on the team's travels can be found from the CHSS Rainmakers twitter feed and that for the school itself.

For a look at the tournament so far for the Rainmakers you can find our notes through our archive page here.


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