High school basketball tournament play returns to a familiar weekend on Salt Spring this year, as a revival of the Nairn Howe Memorial Basketball Tournament will start with a 10:45 a.m. tip-off on Friday, Jan. 17.
It’s a revival with a twist, according to Gulf Islands Secondary School (GISS) teacher and coach Tom Langdon, who said the tournament would host junior and senior girls’ teams, rather than senior boys and girls as in earlier years.
“The hope is we can also have a boys tournament in the future,” said Langdon. “We are hoping to continue to grow the game of basketball on the island, as we have a keen and dedicated group of kids playing right now.”
Four senior teams –– GISS, Dover Bay, Duncan Christian and Nanaimo Christian –– and four junior teams –– again GISS and Dover Bay, along with Maple Ridge Christian and Vic High –– will compete over two days. Games start at 10:45 a.m. on Friday with the last game at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, games start at 8:30 a.m. with the final game starting at 5 p.m.
Langdon said the senior team was off to a great start to their season, with a 9-0 record going into the holidays highlighted by a win at the Dover Bay tournament Dec. 6-7. The juniors also had a strong start, he added, with wins over Wellington and Quw’utsun Secondary.
People are invited to cheer on local players at both the Nairn Howe tournament and all home games.
The GISS senior girls host a Mark Isfeld team from Comox on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 4:45 p.m., followed by the senior boys playing Brentwood College at 6:15 p.m. On Thursday, Jan. 23, the senior boys are scheduled to host Shawnigan Lake at 4:45 p.m. but that game is still to be confirmed.