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| There's a Championship Banner coming North, as the Charles Hays Rainmakers topped George Elliot Coyotes 78-51 in the AA BC High School Basketball Championship in Langley on Saturday (screen shot from TFSE stream cast of the final) |
When the Spring Break ends and classes resume at Charles Hays Secondary later this month, there will be one bit of business to take care of as students head towards the home stretch of their studies for the 2019 school year, the raising of Provincials Banner for Boys Basketball in the CHSS Gym.
The long sought after, but rather elusive banner was captured Saturday afternoon at the biggest stage for High School Basketball in the province, as the showcase forum of the Arena Bowl at the Langley Events Centre became the focus for this years Rainmaker team assembled by coaches Mel and Ryan Bishop.
From the opening notes of the video intros, to the singing of the national anthem prior to tip off, the pre-game presentation served notice that it was Showtime and only forty minutes on the hardwood was standing in the way of the season long goal of a championship for the Rainmakers.
Once underway, the fast attack of the Charles Hays starters quickly set the pace for the game, with their opposites on the court, the George Elliot Coyotes getting their first glimpses of the scoring options that the Rainmakers have brought to games all season long.
Taking a page from the Sa-Hali Sabres the night before in the semi-final, the Coyotes would key on Liam McChesney, double and triple teaming him at times to try to disrupt his game.
It was a strategy that Sa-Hali had more luck with on Friday evening, for the Coyotes on Saturday afternoon the plan was one that more often than nought came to no avail.
Frequently McChseney would create his own space to put points on the board and when space wasn't there, the Rainmaker big man dished the ball off to Eric Lees, Tyler Jones or Kai Leighton among many others, each often finding an open lane to the rim, or taking advantage of open shots, many of which found their mark.
The quick pace of the first quarter worked much to the benefit of Charles Hays and with ten minutes in the books, the Makers were up by a score of 21 to 8, by the half the advantage had increased to 39 to 18.
The first twenty minutes were marked by a perfect mix of speed, offence and strong defensive play where shots were denied and rebounds gobbled up, only to send the Rainmaker forwards back down the court to add to the lead.
The final twenty minutes of the second half offered much of the same, the Rainmakers never opening the door at all to give the George Elliot five a shot to chip away at the growing lead.
A three quarter score of 64 to 31 sent the message that the team from Prince Rupert was on a mission and locked on their target.
The Coyotes would continue to push, but as the time was winding down through the second half, their shots became more of the thing of desperation tosses than design plays, many swatted away before making it anywhere near the rim.
Much of the pre-tournament talk had focused on the Rainmakers many offensive skills, but it was their defensive play that also stood out on Championship Saturday, as they frustrated the Coyote attack time and time again.
At times the strong defensive approach was a little too much so, as Daniel Cachero would find out, the Rainmaker guard quickly found himself in some early foul trouble, before a few minutes on the bench late in the second quarter would see him readjust his game to make for a more measured defensive stance in the second half.
With the AA championship serving as the farewell to high school basketball for Liam McChesney, his play no doubt had more than a few of the scouts on hand for the week envious of what Utah State will be working with in the fall.
Through four games and with no shortage of defensive attention, the Rainmaker had some strong offensive displays, and clearly was the most dominating player on the floor through the tournament play.
McChesney's final appearance however would have an early exit, with the officiating staff holding firm towards their view of over celebration, quickly rattling off two consecutive technical fouls for the high flying Rainmaker.
The archives of the AA tournament will show that Liam McChesney's high school career ended at the three and half minute mark of the final quarter of the championship game, as he was ejected for what was considered an over exuberant celebration of what was a fairly impressive dunk.
The expulsion didn't have any impact on the game's finishing moments, such has been the strength of the Rainmaker bench, that as the starters came out one by one over the course of the final six minutes, there was little change in the on court composure, stops were still made, the lead delivered safely to the end and the 78 to 51 victory to claim the Championship.
Once the final stats are released, we'll add the box score and breakdown on the day to our notes.
When it came to the final awards for Championship Saturday, Eric Lees gained the Player of the Game honours, Kai Leighton was named to the First Team All Stars and in a fitting farewell to his days as a Senior, Liam McChesney was named the Tournament MVP.
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| Rainmaker Liam McChesney closed out his high school hoops days in top style awarded MVP honours for his play in the AA Provincials (screenshot from TFSE streamcast) |
One might wonder how a tourney MVP doesn't find himself on an all-star roster, but in the big picture of what the team goal was from the very first game of the season, bringing a championship back to Prince Rupert trumps the mysterious deliberations of the all star selection committee.
The team awards and presentation of the Provincials Banner brought the journey to Langley to a close, with but one final detail to take care, as each member of the 2019 AA Championship team took to the ladder under the east end hoop and snipped their own piece of twine.
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| Player of the Game Eric Lees, brings home his piece of the Langley Events Centre Following the CHSS Rainmakers AA championship victory (screenshot from TFSE streamcast) |
The full review of the AA tourney from the organizers can be found here.
With the team set to return to town on Sunday, CHSS is giving an approximate time of Noon to 2 to welcome the Rainmakers home, the Banner raising no doubt to follow some time before Spring Break arrives at the end of next week.
You'll most likely know when, from the roar from the east side as the banner makes its rise in the CHSS Gymnasium.
(Note: Above passage corrects our early delivery of Spring Break ... apologies to those who thought they suddenly had an extra week off)
Former Charles Hays teacher Brian Cameron was on hand for the final match up and forwarded some photos from the Langley Entertainment Centre. More of his shots from tournament week can be found on the the Rainmakers twitter feed and that of Charles Hays.
For a review of the entire path from start to finish at the AA tournament see our archive page here.
Our notes on Rainmaker Sports through the year can be explored here.
To return to the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.
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