Rainmakers find their range with two bounce back games at Provincials

The Charles Hays Senior Boys Rainmakers have put together a pair of back to back wins at Provincials as they look to take their leave of Langley on Saturday on a winning streak. 

That after two dominating performances on Thursday and Friday.

The Rainmakers had their hopes of a Championship repeat dashed in the tournament opener on Wednesday when the Windsor Dukes earned an early upset taking the play to the Makers to knock the Charles Hays boys to the B side of the tournament.

Thursday play against Southern Okanagan provided the first opportunity for the Rainmakers to return to the familiar play that carried them for much of the season.

After a fairly tight start to the first quarter where the teams exchanged buckets the Rainmakers started to put a distance between themselves and the Oakangan Boys with 20-11 lead after ten minutes.

That lead expanded into the Second quarter with the Rainmakers moving ahead 35-19 by the half and adding even more scoring in the Third period with a twenty point spread by three quarter time at 56-36. 

Things became a bit more defensive for the Makers in the fourth of the Thursday match up, the Charles Hays Boys adding twelve more points to Southern Okanagan's 10 making for a final of 68 to 46

Friday delivered a Northern BC showdown for the B side of tournament play as Charles Hays took on Nechako Valley in a Noon hour contest.

A first quarter of testing each other made for a 17-10 lead for the Rainmakers after 10 minutes, setting up a fairly competitive second frame with the Nechako Valley holding close with just six points separating the Makers' and the competition the scoreboard showing 29-23  heading out of half time.

The Charles Hays Seniors finally hit their groove in the second and third quarters taking their offence deep into the Nechako backcourt adding to the scoring in bursts, while holding off any major push back from their northern rivals.

By the final whistle the game was well in hand for the Rainmakers who claimed a 72 to 51 victory, putting their record at 2 and 1 after three days at Provincials.

Above images from the TFSE Streamcast of Tournament play

Tomorrow the Rainmakers  bring their week in Langley to a close with an 11:30 AM tourney finale against one of the hometown participants in Langley Christian.

As for the Big Show to claim a Provincial banner, there may some solace for Charles Hays that the Dukes who knocked them out of the running onWednesday, were bumped themselves in Thursday action.

The finalists for the Provincials for 2022 will be two of four teams who have yet to play today.

With one Semi Final at 7PM tonight between Brentwood College and Lambrick Park both from Vancouver Island. 

Also in action tonight the Kamloops area Westsyde Senior Boys take on Vancouver's West Point Grey Academy at 8:45 PM.

Winners from both will make for the two final teams standing after a challenging four days.

You can still take in the live stream of Tournament play, with a Day Pass available for Saturday's games or a tourney pass for those who wish to watch tonight's play or review the game video from all games since Wednesday's First Tip Off

Access that through the AA Tournament Home page.

A valuable resource to learn more about this weeks game play is the Sports Blog Varsity Letters hosted by Howard Tsumura.

A look back at the Rainmakers week and season can be found from our archive page.