Slow starts were too much for R.D. Parker Collegiate's varsity boys basketball team to overcome as they lost both of their games at the AAA high school basketball championships in Thompson March 15-17.
"That was our downfall," said coach Jonathan Wamboldt, noting that in both games the Trojans were even or ahead in scoring over the last three quarters. "It seems like the first quarter was hard for us to get by."
Wamboldt wasn't sure what caused the slow starts, as he felt his team was playing well at both ends of the floor, but just didn't seem to have any luck around the rim in the opening period.
"The ball just didn't want to go in the basket," he said. "We started OK in out second game against Linden Christian. The ball didn't want to go in the basket for us."
A day after cutting a 34-point deficit to just five by the final minute in an 86-77 loss to number one seed Westgate Mennonite Collegiate, the Trojans fell into the same trap, getting outscored 29-14 in the opening quarter and then matching Linden Christian point-for-point the rest of the way, falling 15 points short - 87-72 - in their bid to qualify for the consolation final and seeing their tournament end after just two games despite the home court advantage.
RDPC drew within a point of Linden Christian in the second quarter, outscoring their opponents 21-7 to make it a 36-35 game before Linden Christian scored the next eight points, though the Trojans drew within six on a three-pointer in the second-last possession before halftime that made the score 44-38 for Linden Christian.
Arnav Sud led the Trojans in scoring at the half with 12 points and finished with 16 on the game, the second-highest total for the Trojans behind Matthew Gillis's 19.
Mitch Klassen led Linden Christian with 19 points in the game, while Caleb Mueller had 17, with 12 of those coming in the first half.
When the first provincial tournament game for the boys team tipped off on March 15, the Westgate Wings scored eight points before the eighth-seeded Trojans got on the scoreboard.
By the time Matt Gillis got the Trojans' second basket, Westgate already had 23 points and finished the first quarter leading 29-6. By halftime, it was 46-19 and at one point Westgate had led by 30.
The Trojans could have packed it in and conserved energy for their first consolation round game, but give them credit. They battled right to the end, making the score 82-77 with back to back three-pointers from Tevin Wong and Glenn Pronteau in the last 30 seconds before two intentional foul calls gave their opponent possession and free throws and Westgate sank them all, winning 86-77.
"One nice thing was they didn't give up," said Wamboldt. "They left everything on the floor. They showed a lot of character doing that. They showed they could play with the best teams in the province. We just didn't have the lucky bounces."
The Trojans outscored their opponent 35-22 in the final quarter and were led overall by Gillis, RDPC's player of the game with 18 points, and Wong, who overcame some early bad shooting luck to sink some clutch baskets as time wound down and finish with 19 points.
Ben Miller led Westgate with 33 points, while Brendan Dyck, Westgate's player of the game, had 26.
The loss ended RDPC's chances of challenging for a provincial title.
Aside from the fact that the players he coached lost both games, Wamboldt says he couldn't have hoped for the tournament to be any better.
"It was really loud, lots of fans coming out to cheer. That was nice to see," he said. "It was great competition. Teams were really impressed with Thompson. Everything was great, really impressive. The skills competition, the teams really enjoyed that part."
It wouldn't have run so well without the tremendous support Wamboldt says they got from the community, including those who just heaped out at the tournament and others who helped out with the basketball team throughout the season.
"It's greatly appreciated," said Wamboldt. W"e always seem to get great support when we do big tournaments like this."
