Sporting green and gold Nike shoes that matched their uniforms, the South Okanagan Secondary School Hornets looked slick as they steamrolled the Pen High Lakers 103-64.
While handing the Lakers a stinging defeat during the Old Shoe Game, the Hornets also completed a five-peat in holding onto the Old Shoe trophy.
Lakers senior forward Mitch Jacobsen, who finished with 12 points, opened the scoring, but the Hornets (ranked sixth in AA) wasted little time tying. The Hornets then built an 8-2 lead three minutes in. Once the first quarter was over, the Hornets had a commanding 30-13 lead.
Even while up 63-37 into the third quarter, Hornets coach Maurizio Basso didn’t let up on being hard on his players if he felt it was necessary.
“We’re gearing to a provincial run,” said Basso, who was vocal throughout the game. “Trying to focus in on being intense all the time. This team will let down. I don’t relax until the last five minutes of the game.”
Because of the Lakers size (nine players are six-feet tall or more), Basso was nervous about the game hosted at Princess Margaret Secondary. Basso had fears as he thought his team (with four players six-feet-tall or more) wouldn’t be able to play against that size.
“I just didn’t feel like we were going to step up to the challenge,” he said, proudly holding the bronzed Old Shoe trophy that was created in 1965. “I think the players were totally confident in their abilities and they showed it. They played great defence.”
Parry Aulakh, who led the Hornets with 30 points, said they played well because they clicked at the right time. He added it helped having their big man, six-foot-three Greet Gill, back in the lineup and scoring 13 points.
“It was a really good win,” said Aulakh, adding that playing strong defence was their focus.
The Hornets were aggressive on both sides of the ball and gave the Lakers no room to make plays. The Hornets also made great shots from three-point land and generated scoring chances below the hoop where they displayed deft passing skills before scoring. The Lakers weren’t showing the same hunger or skills except for the odd moment. While they did collect offensive rebounds early, poor shooting negated those chances. Their play prompted one spectator to say it was “men against boys.”
While Lakers coach Dustin Hyde wasn’t as vocal as his counterpart, his feelings on player performance spilled out when asked about his team’s play.
“Just very disappointed,” said Hyde. “We didn’t play well at all. We knew that Oliver is a very good team. They compete hard, they work really hard. They are a talented team.”
Hyde said that even though the Old Shoe game means nothing in terms of league play, the history behind it does.
Started in 1963, the Old Shoe games was set up by Hornets coach Jerry Glassford and Lakers coach Larry Grant with the intent of seeing which team was the best in the valley and for bragging rights. The size 14 shoe was donated by Hornets player Wayne Radies.
Before the game, Hyde told his players that Oliver had owned the trophy for the last four years. It was time for the Lakers to get it back. The big difference between the two teams for Hyde was heart.
“Our guys played like crap,” he said. “We had one or two guys that competed and I felt gave it their all, dived for balls, and really worked hard.”
Lakers point guard Derek Wolf said they needed to work hard at their defence and play more as a team.
“It was a big game, lots of nerves I guess,” said Wolf.
During the loss, the Lakers also lost Jacobsen to an ankle injury. Hyde said the injury didn’t have an impact on the game, but it was more of a morale loss as he’s their leading scorer.
While the game was never close, Basso sees improvement in the Lakers. Along with their notable size, Basso said the Lakers are stronger and he feels their matchups will get tighter.
“In the past they used to kick us. And now it’s just reversed because we’ve had a pretty stable program,” said Basso. “It shows we can measure up to the best teams in the valley right. And that’s our goal. We want to come here and beat the bigger school and prove that we can play basketball.”
Other Hornet scorers were Baltej Gill and Dale Polychroniou with 11 points. For the Lakers, Travis Petersen led with 17, while Joel Moorman had 13.
Lakers forward Derek Hohmann jumps up for a shot before the Hornet’s Greet Gill can get into position to block his angle.