The official season for the Alberni District Secondary School junior boys’ basketball team came to an end Saturday when they lost two out of three games and failed to qualify for the North Island tournament to be held at Ballenas this weekend.
In their first game the Armada juniors encountered a tall, athletic team from Brooks in Powell River who played a better game that day. The Armada struggled offensively and had a tough time getting into any type of rhythm the first half as they trailed Brooks before closing to within two at the half, coach Jim Seredick said.
The second half saw Brooks literally run away as the Armada could not contain the taller helter-skelter opposition. The final score was 63–45 for Powell River.
Josh Kurucz had a team high 22 points for Alberni while Luke Bradley followed with six.
Alberni then matched up with No. 1 seed Vanier of Courtenay. The Armada played what might have been their best game of the year as they never blinked at the highly favoured Vanier squad. The game featured six lead changes and five ties during the exciting contest. In the end Vanier prevailed 57–50.
Josh Kurucz provided 17 points for the Armada before fouling out early in the fourth quarter. Luke Bradley netted 12 points and Stuart Murray added nine.
The Armada’s last game was against a gritty Carihi team who gave Alberni all they could handle. Trailing by seven at the half the Armada stormed back in the second half and ended the game on a decisive press-fueled 14–0 run to win 52–39.
Conner Van Vliet and Josh Kurucz both had 13 points while Luke Bradley popped in eight.