Aman Rai, the leading scorer for the OSS Rattlers, continued his strong play during the provincial championships in Langley last week. The Rattlers lost their first game and finished 11th in the 16-team field. (Photo supplied)
The goal was to win a championship title.
When the Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS) Rattlers travelled to Langley last week to take part in the B.C. High School 1A Basketball Provincial Championship, head coach Casey Brouwer and his players had one thing in mind.
That goal was to finish atop the 16-team tournament and bring a championship home to the South Okanagan.
In order to win the championship, a team was forced to win all four games it played. The way the draw worked, win your first game and the worst you could do was eighth. Lose your first game and the best you could do is ninth.
OSS opened the championships against Maple Ridge Christian. Head Coach Brouwer knew his players would be in tough.
“Heading into our first game the boys showed a bit of nerves and I know it got the best of them,” lamented Brouwer, who watched teams trade points back and forth, only to have the Rattlers fall by three points to lose to the Hornets 81-78.
“It was heartbreaking seeing the frustration on the boys’ faces,” he added. “They knew they could have played a lot better, some even noted that they choked, stating, ‘We should have won that one coach’.”
Gurshan Sandhu had 27 points and Gurlal Dhaliwal 12 points for the Rattlers.
The demoralizing defeat sent OSS into the B Pool.
The Rattlers next found themselves against the 16th ranked team heading into provincials and easily prevailed over the Mulgrave Titans from West Vancouver 59-21.
“I was able to play my bench for most of the second half, giving everyone on the team an opportunity to play in a provincial tournament game,” said Brouwer of his team’s first win at provincials.
Aman Rai led the Rattlers with 26 points, while Benson Cheng was named Player of the Game with 14 points, six assists, two steals and 15 rebounds.
Next up for Osoyoos was Bulkley Valley – a must win time for the Rattlers if they wanted to finish in the top 10.
“We knew this team would come out fast in the first quarter as we had seen them do the past few games we watched,” offered Brouwer. “They got a considerable lead on us in the first quarter at 27-11. But we are a team that does not back down. We fought back the next quarter and even outscored them 29-18 in the fourth.”
However, the comeback fell short and Osoyoos lost another three-point game 83-80 to Bulkley Valley, leaving OSS officially outside the top 10.
Osoyoos then found itself up against Northside Christian, with 11th place on the line.
Prior to the start of their final game at provincials, Brouwer had encouraging words for his troops.
“I told the guys that I was super proud of all our accomplishments this season. I mentioned how honoured I was to have coached them this year and to be able to watch them play at the Provincial tournament,” recalled Brouwer. “Our final Rattlers Cheer was ‘Leave Nothing Behind’. This was it and we wanted to go out with a win. The team pulled together one last time and played an incredible game.”
When the final buzzer sounded, the Rattlers had come away with an 84-76 victory, leaving the Rattlers in 11th place overall.
OSS captain Gurshan Sandhu was named Player of the Game.
“The entire tournament was a great experience and opportunity for us as a team. For me personally, it was great to see the families that came down and who were at every game to cheer us on,” said Brouwer. “My own brother drove from Prince George to be there to support. One of my proudest moments was looking up into the stands and seeing my son James waving a GO RATTLER GO sign and cheering when we scored a basket. I was happy to have shared this memory with him.”
Individually, a number of OSS players recorded impressive stats through the four games.
Aman Rai and Gurshan Sandhu finished in the Top 10 in scoring. Rai was sixth with an average 18.5 points per game and Gurshan Sandhu was ninth with 16 points per game.
Benson Cheng finished fourth in the tournament with an average of 12.5 rebounds per game, while Gurlal Dhaliwal was eighth with 9.5 rebounds per game.
Jotdeep Brar finished second in the tournament with a three-point shooting percentage of 50.
Rai was fifth with an average of six assists per game, and fifth with an average of four steals per game.
The tournament champions were the Kelowna Christian School Knights, Brouwer’s alma mater, who beat out Immaculata 59-46.
“Now that the team has had a taste of provincials, I know that the drive to return will be that much stronger,” summarized Brouwer. “Thank you Osoyoos and thank you to the Rattlers for a dream come true.”
DALE CORY
Special to the Times
