The Road to Victory

Geoff Lenahan , Douglas College OP Contributor

 

Vues I passed out at 11
o’clock, finally having exhausted my
body enough to sleep at a civil hour.

I accepted the shut eye and went to
bed. It’s now 1:40am and I still can’t
calm down after our win today. WE
PLAY IN THE NATIONAL FINALS
TOMORROW!

My whole life—like every athlete—I
have dreamed of playing in the
Championships at the highest level I
could, and that dream will come true
tomorrow.

Today was no different than
yesterday. Get up, grab a quick bite,
and head to the gym for a shoot around,
back to the hotel for lunch, video on
our opponents, pre-game meal and then,
game time. This is the same routine we
have followed for every road game this
year, and we weren’t about to change
anything now.

The only little fun we had today
was a psychological scheme for

he
KWANTLEN-IT“S
PAs: Co ae

our opponent Mount Saint Vincent
University (MSVU). This was decided
it was announced that ‘Janders’ (James
Anderson), would be defending
MSVU’s All-Canadian, Damian Gay.
We came up with a scheme. Gay was

a 6’6” banger that could stroke the 15
footer. Janders was handed the task of
defending the All-Canadian, as he was
our hardest working post defender.
You see, if we could stop Damian from
getting the ball, and more importantly
keep him from getting offensive
rebounds we would have a better chance
at winning. In the other semi-final
game, MSVU had 20 offensive boards,
largely due to Gay’s performance.

So our psychological scheme was
simple; mock his haircut. You see, Mr.
Gay had a sweet Mohawk hairdo, and
not the wimpy ones where it’s buzzed
down with a trimmer. This ‘hawk was
Bic’d! Right down to the skin. So we
matched Mr. Anderson up with him, Bic
for Bic, and the result was awesome!

 

 

The haircut was meant to be a light
hearted mock of the Mystics star, but
when Janders stepped up beside him,
Mr. Gay offered what appeared to be
a sincere, “Nice haircut.” That would
be as friendly as they would get all
night. From the opening tip, the two of
them were locked up, banging all over
the paint all night. James ignited what
would be a stellar performance from
our defensive end, which caused at least
five passes to sail out of bounds and out
of reach of their intended targets.

The first quarter was very back-and-
forth, and the crowd stayed electric
every time MSVU scored. We were,
again, severely outnumbered in the
stands, with a few parents making
the trip, and some UBC-O players
supporting their BC brothers versus
the rest of the stands. After a close
quarter, a “JBJ” (Jevon Boyde-Joseph)
free throw with no time remaining
brought us to within one, closed the first
quarter with a score of 17-16.

As usual, the second quarter
was ours, and again, it was led by
our stifling defence. The fans were
continually razzing us every time we
made even the slightest mistakes,
chanting any name they could. It
was the kind of atmosphere any team
would die to have. The kind of crowd
the opposition loves and hates to play
against. It’s a love-hate kind of thing;
much like the old Boston Gardens back
in the day. The atmosphere helps to
keep the energy up, but it means you
also can’t hear anything on the floor.

We channelled more of the positive
than the negative, outscoring MSVU
15-8. We were led by Bear’s (Justin
Adams) two three pointers, the last one
with a minute left. That, coupled with
Clay’s steal and lay-up, gave us a 31-25
halftime lead.

We ran off the floor and into the
change room fired up, we were 20
minutes away from beating the

Continued on Pg 18