GFSS teams place high in basketball classic
By Michael Wirischagin
The Grand Forks Secondary School (GFSS) gymnasium was home to great basketball action this past weekend as the GFSS junior and senior boy’s basketball teams held their annual Grand Forks Classic basketball tournament. The Jr. Boy’s welcomed two teams to the ‘Forks, the Summerland Secondary Rockets and the Mt. Sentinel Secondary Jr. Wildcats, to play off against. GFSS played each team twice compiling a 3 win, 1 loss record and finishing the tournament in first place. The Mt. Sentinel juniors finished second with a 2 win, 1 loss record while the Rockets went winless with three losses in three games. On the Sr. Boy’s side, three teams made the trip to Grand Forks- the Mt. Sentinel Secondary Sr. Wildcats, the Nakusp Secondary Cougars, and the Selkirk Secondary Royals of Kimberley, BC. GFSS took on Mt. Sentinel first beating the Wildcats soundly 59-30. Grand Forks only gave up 6 points in the second half and GFSS grade 12 student Mitchell Bekker was named player-of-the-game. With the win, the Wolves pushed their win streak to four straight games. Next in line for the Sr. Wolves basketball team were the Selkirk Royals. As Grand Forks looked to increase their win streak to five straight – the Royals had other ideas. Selkirk outplayed GFSS, forcing turnovers and playing aggressively, which ultimately won the games for them, 63-53, to snap the streak. Player-of-the-game for Grand Forks was grade 12 student Taylor Konken-DeHaan. The Sr. Wolves final game was against the Nakusp Cougars, a team that GFSS had beating earlier in the year. With a GFSS win, the Cougars and Grand Forks would be crowned co-winners of the tournament, but with a Nakusp win, they alone would win the crown. Grand Forks came out flying in the game, taking an early lead, however the sharpshooting of the Cougars from behind the 3-point line killed the Wolves, downing them 82-65. With the win, Nakusp took the tournament. Player-of-the-game for GFSS was another grade 12 student, Jordan Hoodikoff. While the Sr. Wolves only finished second in the Classic, Assistant Head Coach Jesse Hampf feels that the Wolves still have a shot to win Kootenay Zones, especially if the team can learn from their mistakes. “We don’t take enough shots. We need to take more shots,” said Hampf. “We are often tentative when shooting and we need to stop that if we are to have a chance at winning.” Following the Grand Forks Classic, the Sr. Wolves have one game left on the schedule, a game this Thursday in Nelson against L.V. Rogers Secondary School, and beyond that the Wolves are off to Kimberley to take part in the Kootenay Zone playoff at the end of the month.
