On December 4^th, the Second Varsity basketball squad departed to the island for the ISA tournament at Brentwood College.

Their first game of the tournament was against Shawnigan Lake High School. St. George’s team looked tired from the long ferry and bus rides and that was evident in the game. Shawnigan took the early lead and had a 23-point advantage against St. George’s 2^nd Varsity. Although Coach Figueroa and Coach Docherty told the team at halftime that they needed to get it together, the team was not able to push through the fatigue in the second half. The game ended with a 55-point advantage for Shawnigan.

After the game, the team headed to Boston Pizza for their team dinner, then proceeded to their hotel rooms to rest for the following day’s games.

Following a good night rest, the team woke up early for the 9 a.m. game against St. Michael’s University A team. In this game, overall team effort was much improved from the previous one, but the lack of practices 2^nd Varsity team had really hurt them in their offensive possessions. SMU was up by 10 points at halftime. Since the Saints team has only had 3 practices prior to the tournament, they could only work on defensive positioning and some inbounds plays. Therefore, some players looked lost and frustrated on offense due to the lack of plays Saints had. Again, with no outstanding offensive performances from anyone, the 2^nd Varsity team lost the game by 25 points. However, their “zone defense had become much better from this game,” as Coach Figueroa said in the locker room after the game.

The next and final game of the tournament was at 2 in the afternoon, so the team had some time to relax and watch other games, including the game between West Point Grey Academy and St. John’s: the loser of which would play us. It was quite an exciting game; trailing St. John’s made some clutch shots and the game came down to a wire, with WPGA leading by 2. A St. John’s player was fouled as the buzzer went, but missed the free throws.

So the final games for both St. John’s and Saints came, and both teams wanted to win. Saints wanted to cut the losing skid, and St. John’s wanted to redeem themselves from a heartbreaking loss. Owen Pitblado (12) and Keegan Matheson (12) were locked in from early in the game, helping Saints have a 10-point at the end of first quarter. The bench players continued the momentum and Saints had a wide margin until the final buzzer. Matheson led Saints with an outstanding, personal season-high, 30-point game. Saints 2^nd Varsity won by 22 points.

Although the squad started in a rather disappointing way, they found a way back and recovered to a victory in the final game. They got better as a team, but are looking forward to further polish their teamwork and offensive set plays. Overall, it was a great trip for all the players, playing basketball and spending a weekend with their teammates.