If the Maaqtussis Magic and Hesquiaht Storm are going to reach the boys' and girls' finals of the 2014 BC Junior All Native Basketball Championships then they’re going to have to go through the back door.
Magic lost 74-67 to Lytton’s Tlkemcheen Warriors in a Wednesday afternoon game. Magic has been knocked into the losers’ bracket, and will face the winner of Haisla and Snuneymuxw on Thursday.
The Magic’s flat play from the opening whistle played into the hands of the Warriors, a team that head coach Travis Thomas new little about.
“I knew they were big, but that was it.”
The Warriors scored from the paint where their size was an asset, and Magic couldn’t initially stop Warrior guard Adam Phillips, who poured in points from the perimeter.
A sputtering Magic offense and porous defense had the team down by 12 points at the end of the first quarter.
“We really dug ourselves a hole that we had to climb out of,” Thomas said. “We’re battle tested now though, and we’ve seen this before.”
Thomas made adjustments for the second half. He glued guard Izaiah Robinson to Phillips slowing him down. And he had forward Riley Botting handle the ball more, which shook loose his bigger, heavier check.
The moves paid off. Magic’s defense held the Warriors to just six points in the third quarter. Magic’s offense shifted gears scoring 17 points making the score 59-50 going into the fourth.
The Warriors stormed back though, scoring 24 points in the final quarter to the Magic’s eight points sealing the win.
Losing the game just puts Magic on a more challenging road to the title, Thomas said. “After the game I told the guys
“We’re not done until we’re done. We’re in this to the very end.”
Hesquiaht Storm will also be going to the finals of the girls division through the back door after a 46-44 loss to Syilx in an afternoon game.
Tough zone defense and a good transition game combined to give Syilx a 16-4 lead after the first quarter.
But three successful three-point shots rallied the Storm who pulled within six points at 26-20. They pulled ahead to 35-33 on a three-point shot by Kylee Sam, plus two more points from Carlie Thomas to make it 44-43 with one-minute and thirty seconds left on the clock.
But a Storm foul and subsequent Syilx points gave the team from Penticton a 46-44 win. The Storm plays Old Masset, Prince Rupert Friendship House or At’Maakw on Thursday.
The tournament is now over, however, for the NCN Lady Warriors, the little Nuu-chah-nulth team that played with big hearts.
The Lady Warriors lost to the Gitmadik Thunder 46-37 in a morning game.
The teams were tied 24-24 at the half, and 37-37 with 3:55 left on the clock. The Thunder scored two foul shots to pull ahead 39-37. A smothering press bogged the Lady Warriors down and subsequent points gave the Thunder the win.
Thunder was subsequently knocked out in an afternoon loss to Port Simpson.
