The Kelowna Owls have yet to solve the Walnut Grove Gators in three tries this season.
On the upside, Harry Parmar’s defending provincial champs will, in all likelihood, get two more cracks at the No. 1-ranked team in B.C.
For the second straight weekend, the Owls fell to the Gators in a tournament final, dropping a 90-84 decision on Saturday night at the Snowball Basketball Classic in Abbotsford.
A week earlier, Walnut Grove hung on to beat KSS by four points in the final of the Legal Beagle tourney at Terry Fox.
While Parmar would have preferred victories on both occasions, he believes his Owls are close to breaking through.
“The difference in the last two games has only really been a possession or two at the end,” said Parmar, the Owls’ head coach. “We’re right there with them, there’s really not much to choose.
“We know what we have to do to improve, so we have to keep working on those things.”
In Saturday’s final, Mason Bourcier’s 43-point effort led the No. 2-ranked Owls. The senior guard also had an eye-popping 52-point performance a day earlier in the semifinal in a 104-92 win over Rolling Hills, CA.
Bourcier and teammate Owen Keyes were named to the first all-star team, while David Wieczorek was named to the second team.
The Owls and Gators just may be on a collision course again in two weeks time when KSS hosts the annual Interior Savings Western Canada Basketball Tournament.
Then in March, the two schools will undoubtedly be among the favourites at the B.C. boys 4A basketball championship in Langley.
While Parmar would clearly like to see the Gators again, the Owls’ focus from here on in will simply be improving with each game and practice.
“It’s time to fine-tune what we do and set ourselves up for the rest of the season,” he said. “What I want to know is, can we improve and are the guys willing to do what it takes to accomplish that? We’ll see.”
Bears at Air Show…
The Mt. Boucherie Bears won two of three games last weekend at the Pitt Meadows Air Show senior boys basketball tournament.
Kelly Broderick’s team opened with a 65-52 loss to Nanaimo Secondary, then bounced to post wins over Burnaby Mountain (72-53) and Collingwood, 70-43.
Players of game awards for Boucherie went to Mitch Glutek, Sterling Peterson and Grade 10 Bobby Audy, who had a 16-point, 18-rebound game. Peterson was also named to the first team all-star team