Head coach Casey Brouwer and his players with the Osoyoos Secondary School senior boys Rattlers have done themselves proud after qualifying for the provincial 1A championships in Langley during the March Break. The Rattlers finished third in this past weekend’s Valley championships. The Rattlers are ranked ninth in a field of 16 teams in Langley. They will open the tournament against Maple Ridge Christian School on March 11. There will be a pep rally at the school to send the team off to provincials the morning of March 10. (Photo supplied)
The team’s mission statement through this season has been, “one team – one dream.”
The season-long success would provide proof that this group of young basketball players from Osoyoos Secondary School has certainly been moulded into ‘one team’ by head coach Casey Brouwer.
The next step will be to fulfil that ‘one dream’ and win the B.C. High School Boys 1A Basketball Championships.
The OSS Rattlers have qualified to take part in the provincials after finishing third out of 12 teams in the Okanagan Zone Valley championships this past weekend in Lumby.
“It’s not that we don’t deserve to go to provincials,” said Brouwer. “But, I was very confident in our skill and talent and knew that the team would do great this weekend,.
“We worked hard all season and played with heart and hustle and it would be great to be able to see this dream come true and find ourselves stepping onto the court representing Osoyoos at the BC Boys provincial Championship.”
The Rattlers won three of four games in Lumby, including a thrilling victory over Keremeos in the game which decided the final berth into provincials.
The Rattlers opened with a 75-61 win over Ashcroft, with Aman Rai scoring 17 points, Benson Cheng adding 16 and Jotdeep Brar contributing 12 points, all on three-point shots.
“Every player got to play that game,” said Brouwer. “I told the guys, a win is a win, and we had a decent lead on Ashcroft, so I sat my starters halfway through the game to save them for the next one.”
Next up, the Rattlers went up against Kelowna Christian School, Brouwer’s former high school.
A win would guarantee the Rattlers a spot in provincials. Osoyoos beat KCS in a Kelowna tune-up tournament two weeks ago, but fell to KCS 61-51 at Valley’s.
OSS fell behind 17-7 in the opening quarter and never recovered.
Rai led the Rattlers with 17 points, Gurshan Sandhu had a dozen points, and Cheng dropped 11.
Next up, in a must-win situation, OSS scored early and often and beat Barriere 111-61.
Rai had a monster game with 31 points, fellow senior Sandhu had 22, and Arshdeep Gill contributed 10 points.
“This game we knew we had to come out and make a statement to the other teams, and to the province, that we deserved to go to the finals,” said Brouwer. “We unified ourselves and made a plan to put everything aside and focus solely on the game ahead.”
The victory set up a must-win game, with a berth in the provincials on the line, against another arch-nemesis, SESS from Keremeos.
“At the start of the game in our huddle, I mentioned to the boys that this is our spot to provincials and Keremeos is trying to take it from us,” recalled Brouwer. “The boys were charged up and we were ready physically and mentally for the game.”
And it showed as Osoyoos beat Keremeos by 11, 79-68.
Sandhu came through with a huge game, scoring 26 points, including 15 in the final quarter with the game on the line. Cheng contributed 21 and Rai had 17 before fouling out with seven minutes left in the game.
“The past two years Keremeos was the team to knock us out and go on to provincials.This year it was our time to return the favour. I have great respect for Keremeos and their coaches. Both teams displayed drive and desire, but I believe we had just a little extra heart and hustle to take the win,” offered Brouwer. “Arshdeep Gill stepped up and played some of the best defence I have seen him play. Our team has been developing a solid press and it helped in stopping Keremeos and gave us the victory. This game could have been our last and the boys left nothing behind. They played like champions. When that last buzzer went and we knew we had that spot to provincials it was awesome. There was such a feeling of joy and great accomplishment.”
Brouwer and the Rattlers will now prepare to face the best 1A teams in the province at the B.C. Championships, set to take place at the Langley Events Centre March 11-14.
A total of 16 teams will take part in the tournament with Osoyoos ranked ninth heading into the event.
The Rattlers will face Maple Ridge Christian in their first game.
“I am so proud of all the players for their commitment and dedication, and so honoured to be their coach and to have taken them to this next level,” said Brouwer. “All season, from day one when we stepped into the gym, I told the boys, ‘This is our year’.”
And that “one team – one dream” motto could become reality if the Rattlers can claim four more wins at provincials.
The Rattlers will leave the morning of Tuesday, March 10 for the Lower Mainland.
Osoyoos Secondary School will host a Pep Rally for the Rattlers at 8:45 a.m. that morning, sending the team off in style.
You can follow OSS during the provincial tournament. Check out: http://www.bchighschoolbasketballchampionships.com/1aboys/.
DALE CORY
Special to the Times
