Handsworth Royal's Saturday Morning Action Sees Sr. Boys Defeat Killarney
Handsworth Royals Sr Boys v Killarney Cougars
December 14, 2024
(photo credit: Blair Shier)
Early on it was apparent that someone forgot to remove the plexiglass cover from both hoops. Between that and steals and counter-steals, it was a while before the south-east Vancouver Cougars dropped the first 3. This was followed by 2 makes from the strip and another 3. Meanwhile, Handsworth showed up when Dara Shokouhian completed an ‘and-1’ to tie the score at 8. The pace was frenetic which led to many turnovers by both teams. Then Matthew Hawkins, wearing Quinn Keast’s Handsworth jersey #13 and also, like Quinn, a twin (to teammate Gavin), hit a corner 3. Q1 ended 18-16 for the host Royals.
Into Q2 the game felt flat with low intensity, not surprising for a November Saturday morning. Royals’ Nick Rowe contributed a fall-away jumper which was punished by the Cougars’ Chiu on a steal followed by his teammate Barton’s two made foul shots. By mid-Q2 it was 26-19 Handsworth who were beginning to assert themselves. This was emphasized by a 3 from Miles Herbert. Meanwhile, the thieving continued as the number of steals mounted. At a timeout, Handsworth Coach Pankiw urged his troops to be aggressive as they then surged to a 34-27 lead at the end of Q2.
[Meanwhile, a slide took place on Highway 99, north of Lions Bay, which trapped Quinn’s twin sister Jamie at her home in Squamish. She was a very important part of the success of the tournament, handling social media and a host of other tasks. The highway did not open until Sunday morning.]
Halftime Fun Fact: The Harry Ainlay group from Edmonton were drooling over the ground level windows in the Handsworth gym as their school has none. That’s right, no windows, none.
Q3: The steal show continued with 4 in one sequence. Handsworth Dara was putting on a show of basketball IQ with magic passes, and attacks to the basket. Royals’ Liam Hadrill contributed as well showing comparable skill in shooting, both inside and outside. Late in the quarter, Dara boldly rolled the ball up the court before picking it up at the last second and dashing to the basket, although the ball did not cooperate to complete the score. That was fun to watch albeit risky. Score at the end of Q3 was 55-42 for Handsworth.
Q4: Handsworth had gained its rhythm now, to the liking of Coach Pankiw. It also helped the hosts that Killarney did not score until 4 minutes into the final frame while Handsworth went on an 18-point run in the first 6 minutes. Killarney’s Nguyen nailed a 3 late in the quarter as they also added 3 from the foul line from Hill.
Final score: Handsworth 75- 50 Killarney