The Charles Hays Secondary School (CHSS) senior boys basketball team hosted the Rainmakers Home Tournament over the weekend, competing in four games against three schools from around the region.
The Rainmakers won their games against Kitimat's Mount Elizabeth Secondary School and Smithers Secondary School, but were unable to overcome their competitors from Queen Charlotte Secondary School in both games they played against them.
"[QCSS] is a very good team. They actually just beat No. 8 ranked AAA team by 25 in Vancouver," said Mel Bishop, who coaches the senior boys team along with Brody Bishop.
"We got better throughout the weekend. [Sunday's] game could've went either way. I thought late in the game we came back and were a lot closer. Queen Charlotte had to work a lot harder."
The Rainmakers started the tournament off on a good foot on Friday beating Kitimat 67-25, with Grade 10 player Justin McChesney earning 15 of the team's points.
Then the boys faced off against Smithers on Saturday, once again coming out on top with a final score of 82-53. Saul Rudderham, Grade 12, scored the highest number of points at 15, followed by Keenan Pahl, Grade 11, with 14.
But the Rainmakers' luck ended there, losing the remainder of their games against Queen Charlotte Secondary, who were the only undefeated team in the tournament.
During their first game against the Saints, Grade 12 student Garrett Kobza was able to get the Rainmakers 15 points, with Grade 12 student John Sampson earning the team 11. However, it wasn't enough to overcome Queen Charlotte, who ended the game at 81-62.
Then on Sunday in their final game against the Saints, the Rainmakers couldn't overcome the Haida Gwaii team. Despite only being down six points at half time, with the score 33-39, CHSS was unable to surpass QCSS and would lose the game 65-57.
The high scorers of the game were Grade 11 student Perry Terrell with 17, Kobza with 15 and Sampson with 13.
"I was impressed with how Perry played on Sunday," Bishop said.
Next, CHSS will be in Terrace to play games against Caledonia Secondary School on Feb. 14-15 before heading to Smithers for the Northwest Zones taking place Feb. 28 to March 1.