Kavneer Dhaliwal of the Osoyoos Rattlers leaps with the ball as the home team clobbered visiting Princeton 105-23. When it came to height, the Osoyoos team had a big advantage. (Richard McGuire photo)
The Osoyoos Rattlers senior boys’ basketball team has been on a roll recently, performing well in a recent tournament and annihilating the competition in a home game last week.
They suffered a setback last weekend, however, when they finished ninth among 10 teams at a tournament in Salmon Arm.
“The Rattlers team this year is by far the best senior boys’ team that I have coached in my four years now,” said Casey Brouwer, coach of the team at Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS).
Last Wednesday the Rattlers buried Princeton 105-23 in a game that put together two badly mismatched teams.
The previous weekend, the Rattlers faced eight other teams, all from larger schools, at a tournament in Nelson. The Rattlers finished second, only losing by eight points in the final game against Rutland Senior Secondary School, a AAAA school. Osoyoos was the only single-A school in the tournament.
“We actually only had seven players,” said Brouwer. “Some of our players that are on the junior team had a home tournament, which they won, so we went to Nelson short players. But still, with the great calibre of the players that we had, we were able to do quite well.”
Last Wednesday’s game against Princeton was completely lopsided as the Osoyoos team just kept plopping the ball into the visiting team’s basket.
“We knew we would have a good game,” said Brouwer. “They’ve got good athletic ability, but they are not the same calibre at basketball as we are.”
The Princeton team was largely made up of hockey players, much shorter than the Osoyoos players, some of whom towered over the visitors’ heads.
“They don’t have a lot of height on their team,” said Brouwer. “We have a lot of height and people that play ball. And it really showed in tonight’s game.”
Brouwer said last year’s Rattlers were also a great team with a lot of skill. This year’s team, however, is “more connected.”
“They seem to be bonding really well together,” he said. “There’s a lot of respect for each other as a whole unit, where last year they were a great team, but there was still a lot of individual play. This year there is hardly any of that. There’s a lot of unselfish players. In fact, we’ve got a few of them that would rather make the assist than the basket. They are playmakers.”
This was evident as the Rattlers passed the ball around, waiting for just the right moment to plop it into the net.
This past weekend’s setback in Salmon Arm saw the Rattlers lose their first game by 11 points and their second by seven. They won their last game.
“Both games we could have won,” said Brouwer. “They were close-fought battles. It was a good learning experience for our team. The competition was really good for our guys.”
The Rattlers are currently ranked fifth in the province for single-A schools. They have three more league games before they start preparing for playoffs, said Brouwer.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
Some of the Osoyoos Rattlers senior boys basketball team take a break from clobbering a visiting team from Princeton. From left are: Phil Cabanada, Gurlal Dhaliwal, Justin Davis, Benson Cheng, Arshdeep Gill. After pounding Princeton 105-23, the team had a less successful tournament in Salmon Arm, but Coach Casey Brouwer said they still played well. (Richard McGuire photo)
