Contributed by Rod Morrison
Nakusp Secondary School hosted the West Kootenay A tier high school boys basketball playoff on Feb. 19. Teams from Salmo, Mt. Sentinel and Nakusp competed in the round robin competition to determine the West Kootenay representative for the provincial championships which will be held from March 9–12 in Langley.
In the first game of the playoff Nakusp faced the Salmo team. NSS jumped out to a 24–4 lead in the first quarter and coasted to a 82–57 victory. Terryn Stenseth led Nakusp with 22 points and Dustin Larrimore chipped in with 15 points for the NSS team.
In the second game Salmo played the Mt. Sentinel Wildcats. The game was a scrambly affair with Mt. Sentinel holding a 27–11 lead at halftime. Salmo cut the lead to 12 points early in the second half but Mt. Sentinel pulled away in the second half for a 59–35 win. This result eliminated Salmo and set up a single game showdown between Nakusp and Mt. Sentinel to determine who would advance to the provincials.
Mt. Sentinel jumped out to an early 10–1 lead in the final game as the nervous Nakusp teamed started with some cold shooting and a number of turnovers. Halfway through the first half NSS started to make some of their shots and at the end of the first quarter the score was deadlocked at 15–15. NSS came out strong in the second quarter and pulled out to a 40–29 halftime lead. Mt. Sentinel clawed their way back in the second half and cut the lead to four points late in the game but could not catch the NSS team. Final score in the game was 69–61 for Nakusp. Terryn Stenseth led Nakusp with 35 points and Garrett Bowman added 22 for the host team.
This is the first time in school history that the senior boys basketball team has won back to back West Kootenay titles. The provincial tournament features the 16 teams that qualify out of the 76 registered A tier high school teams in the province.
This weekend (Feb. 25 and 26) the senior girls team will host the girls East/West Kootenay A tier basketball playoffs. Teams from Sparwood, Fernie, Rossland and Mt. Sentinel will compete with the local team to determine the Kootenay representative for the girls provincial tournament in Sparwood in early March.