By Lyonel Doherty, Times-Chronicle

There are some tough lessons in life, and for Oliver’s senior boys basketball team, those lessons were harsh during last week’s provincial championships.

Coach Ryan Baptiste said their first matchup against No. 2 seed Lambrick Park ended in a 102-43 loss.

“The team’s massive size and quickness got the best of us,” he said.

In their second game against Charles Hays, the SOSS Hornets couldn’t get their stinger back from Lambrick Park.

“This team was a better match-up for the Hornets, but throughout the game passing became sloppy and we forced a lot of bad turnovers and we ended up losing 68-46,” Baptiste said.

But it was their third game against Hugh Boyd that saw them play like champions, albeit they lost by three points.

Baptiste said the boys came up strong and had an early 16-point lead in the first half. Then foul trouble got the best of them, with Hugh Boyd scoring most of their free throws that allowed them to make a comeback.

“With nine seconds left, we were up one and we almost had it, then we had a costly foul,” the coach lamented.

Hugh Boyd tipped a pass and Hornet Phat Thai quickly went to grab the ball. 

“Instead of a jump ball they called a foul on him which really hurt us and they went back to the line and scored two more free throws.”

With no time left the Hornets lost 104-101. 

 

SOSS Hornet Phat Thai dribbles past an opponent during the provincial championships in Langley last week. Thai was chosen by the team as the game all-star. Photo by Gary Ahuja

 

“Not too often you see both teams in a high school game score over 100 points,” Baptiste said.

In their last battle on Friday, the Hornets had one more chance to win a game.

“The boys were fired up and angry and didn’t want to lose again,” the coach said.

In our last match up of the tournament the Hornets faced off against Samuel Robertson Technical in a do or die game for

The Hornets faced off against Samuel Robertson Technical in a do-or-die game for 15th and 16th place. 

Baptiste said the boys came out strong with an early lead and it was looking good until Brayden Lee got fouled hard and smashed his hip and needed to be carried off the court. 

Soon after this another hard foul came to Joey Khangura as he took an elbow to the chest and got winded and needed to sit out for the rest of the quarter. 

The Hornets’ lead started to dwindle, but they managed to stay up by one point going into half time. 

After the half, Lee and Khangura were feeling better and were able to come back into the game, helping the team keep the lead through the third and fourth quarter.  

“The game was still close but the boys kept their composure and held the lead until the final seconds and when the buzzer went off, the hornets won their last game in the tournament coming in 15th place,” Baptiste said.

The Hornets chose Phat Thai to be the  game all-star with his stellar performance. 

“I am so proud of these boys. We set a goal to make it to provincials and we accomplished that goal.”

Baptiste said it was also a  special moment for him being an SOSS alumni.

“This is the first time I have been to the provincials with SOSS as a player or coach. I have loved coaching these boys this season and I am glad they were able to finish off the provincials and their season with a win.”