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Valley schools head into Island boys hoops tourneys this week

Cow High, Brentwood, Duncan Christian and Chemainus all in the mix
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Cowichan Secondary’s Clayton Bergstrom drives through the middle during a recent home game against Dover Bay. (Kevin Rothbauer/Citizen)

Cowichan Valley teams will be in the mix later this week as the Vancouver Island senior boys basketball championships get underway.

The Cowichan Secondary Thunderbirds will battle for the AAAA title at Oak Bay, defending provincial champs Brentwood College School will contend for the AA title in Ladysmith, and Duncan Christian School and Chemainus Secondary will play for the single-A title at Glenlyon Norfolk School.

After a strong start to the season, the T-Birds have had to make some adjustments in recent weeks after losing three international students who returned home at the winter break.

“They were an important part of our team, who worked hard and loved to compete,” Cowichan head coach Casey Parsons said. “Although we have had multiple guys step up and fill those roles, it has still been a transition.”

The T-Birds lost their most recent game 65-43 to Dover Bay in spite of some strong play as a team. Cowichan trailed 29-27 at halftime, but an 11-0 run by Dover early in the fourth quarter put the game out of reach. Clayton Bergstrom led the way with 17 points, while Noah Murdoch added eight and Clayton Reymerink contributed seven.

Cowichan enters Islands as the third seed from the North, and will open against Belmont, the South’s second seed, this Thursday at 8 p.m. Belmont is ranked 10th in the province, one spot behind host Oak Bay.

AAAA tournament schedule and results

Brentwood enters the AA Island tournament as the top seed from the South, facing off against Campbell River’s Timberline at 3:45 p.m. on Thursday. The defending provincial champions are ranked ninth in the province, flanked by two other Island title contenders: St. Michaels University School at eighth and Lambrick Park at 10th.

AAA tournament schedule and results

Duncan Christian enters the single-A tournament at GNS as the second seed from the South, right behind the host team, while Chemainus Secondary is the fourth seed from the South. The DCS Chargers will meet Gaglardi Academy of Comox in the first round at 8 p.m. on Thursday, right after Chemainus plays Nanaimo Christian at 6 p.m.

Single-A tournament schedule and results

All the Island tournaments are scheduled to wrap up Saturday evening. Scores can be found at sportvictoria.com.

The top two AAAA teams and the top three teams in the other brackets qualify for the provincials.