Rainmakers wrap up Provincials with 1-3 record, Haida Gwaii 1A boys come just short of title

The Rainmakers wrapped up their 2024 Tournament experience
with a Saturday match up with Surrey's Khalsa School
(image from TFSE stream)

The BC Provincials wrapped up Saturday afternoon with much of the attention focused on the Big Four finales,  a summit that for this year at least was deferred for the Charles Hays Rainmakers who wrapped up their own tournament experience early Saturday afternoon with one final match up with the Khalsa School.

The battle between the two teams a hard fought match up, with frantic action around the hoops, and up and down the court speed the focus for much of the forty minutes.

As it had been for much of Tournament week the Rainmaker attack was led by a trio of highly entertaining hoopsters, in Tyler Bomben, Josh Aparicio and Caleb Tait, the three accounting for 36 of the Rainmakers 64 points in their final match up.

Those 64 points however could not close the gap on the Scoreboard as the Khalsa side came back from a slow start in the first ten minutes of play, regrouping and pulling ahead of the Charles Hays boys by half time.

They would not surrender the lead in the final twenty minutes, making for a 77-64 final in favour of the Surrey team. The loss delivering  a 1-3 record for the Makers in the 2024 Tournament.

The 2A Championship was claimed by Collingwood, the Cavaliers from West Vancouver topping Brentwood College by a score of 71-64 over the Vancouver Island team.  

The win was the first provincial title for Collingood

Brentwood College was a familiar name for Rainmaker fans, having topped the Charles Hays Side on Opening day on their march to the final.  

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Gidgalang Kuuyas Naay Breakers from Haida Gwaii were the talk of
Division 1 A play at Provincials 
(image from TFSE stream)

Of all the play of Championship Saturday, it was the 1A Division showdown that set the pace for the day's finales, that providinf for some of the most drama and high packed action on the court.

The Unity Christian team from Chilliwack battled off a 4th quarter push by Gidgalang Kuuyas Naay Breakers from Haida Gwaii, the latter who had strong final ten minutes, coming up just short of the Championship, to hold off their challenge.

The Breakers who made for high octane offence through the Tournament, once again caught the eye of tournament fans making their bid for a banner as they took the play to the number one seed from the 1A division. 

The Haida Gwaii side who rode their momentum through a couple of other top seeds towards Championship Saturday had taken the lead in the fourth quarter, a regrouping for Unity serving to find their way back into the lead with just seconds to go, the clock running out on the Breakers before they could make their own final push.

The 74-71 score at the end of forty minutes very much an indication of the balance that both teams brought to the play, 

The final  result separated by three points, something that may have had a banner Island bound if not for a bad bounce or just missed shot. Still, a remarkable result for a well coached team that did Haida Gwai proud.

You can review more of the notes from the Provincials through the Tournament website or by way of the Varsity Letters blog.

The journal featuring an excellent review of the final.

Fans who may have purchased the season's pass for the 2024 event can review all four of the tournament finales from the Archives page.

Our archive of past notes from Tournament time is available here.