The Summerland Secondary School 2004 and older grads won the annual Alumni Hoop Tourney on Dec. 26 at the high school gym.
The older grads continued their dominance of the Alumni Tournament by winning their fourth straight title.
The team was led by the super quick Lee Agur, as well as the smooth shooting Jeff Dolan and was also aided by the intense inside game of Graham Lyle.
Lyle led the team in scoring in the tournament final with 14 points, followed closely by Dolan who contributed 12 points.
Josh Hood, a 6’8” grad from 2003, also led the Old team in rebounds and was a force in the paint with 11 hard fought points.
The tournament began on Saturday with the present high school senior boys’ Rockets taking on the Old Boys’ team.
The game was close throughout, with both teams sharing the lead many times, but in the end the Old Boys found some energy from deep down and pulled away from the Rockets to defeat them by a score of 72-63.
Jeff Dolan led the Old Boys’ team with 17 points, while Graham Lyle contributed 15, and Gary Gregg added 13 points.
For the Rockets, high flying Landon Brickenden led the way with 21 points, while Spencer McIntosh added 15, and Geoff Stathers rounded out the top scorers with 12 points.
In the next match up, the Grad 2005-2012 Blue team took on the Grad 2013-2015 Red team in one of the best games of the tournament.
The older Blue team managed to pull out a one point victory in the dying seconds of the game, despite a spirited final minute by the younger Red team.
The many fans in attendance went wild after experiencing the crazy final ten seconds of the game, making so much noise it was difficult to hear the final buzzer, thus ending the game and preserving the Blue team victory.
Harish Anand led the Blue team in scoring with 15 points, and Josh Thorton added a strong 12 points.
Abhi Lekhi led the Red team in defeat with 12 points.
In the Girls’ Grads game, 15 ladies returned to take on the present Sr. Girls’ Rockets squad.
The game was close throughout, but the Rockets prevailed in the end by a score of 42-34.
The Rockets’ winning effort was aided by two present Sr. Girls’ coaches, Jenny Mitchell and the timeless Tama Corday.
Mitchell led the way in scoring with 15 points, followed by Haven Dufty with 9 and Jill Henrichsen with eight.
Smooth shooting UBCO player Chloe Kennedy led the Grad’s effort with 10 points, followed by Allison Pickett with eight points.
In the boys’ consolation game, the present Rockets played extremely well and knocked off the Red Grad team by a score of 65-57.
Trevor Parkinson was the top point getter for the Grads team with 16 points, while the long shot specialist Jordan Stathers accounted for 12 points.
The Rockets had a very balanced attack in this match with Geoff Stathers playing his best game of the season and he scored a season high 23 points, while Spencer McIntosh contributed a strong 16 points, and two time dunker Landon Brickenden added 15 points.
As a result of this game, the Rockets ended up in third place and the Red Grads finished fourth.
In the tournament final, Blue Grads team took on the Old Boys team in a rematch of last year’s final.
The Blue team dominated the first half, led by their excellent shooting and fast break attacks.
The Old Boys refused to throw in the towel however, and fought slowly back in the second half.
Led by the amazing energy of Lee Agur, the hustle and grit of Graham Lyle, the improved shooting of Jeff Dolan and Josh Hood, and the bench cheering of elder Tom Brickenden, the Old Boys rallied to defeat the Blue Grads by a score of 63-50! It was the Old Boys fourth championship in a row.
Organizers Don Walker and Blair Haddrell would like to thank all the fans who showed up to cheer on the teams throughout the day, as well as contribute to the donation box at the door.
They mentioned it was also great to see all the grads who returned and participated in this celebration of Summerland basketball.
All funds collected will be donated to the senior basketball programs at the high school.