Two Prince Rupert teams place runners-up at JANT

Prince Rupert Strikers, boys basketball under 17 team and Coastal Pride boys under 13 both brought home the silver medal placing from the Junior All Native Tournament (JANT) which came to a close March 25 on Sylix territory in Kelowna.

Both teams clinched second place at the 2022 event with the Strikers losing to tournament hosts Syilx 69-63 and Coastal Pride falling to Gitlaxt’aamix (New Aiyansh) 51-43.

Jacob Leighton and Brandon Basso were awarded all-star titles for Coastal Pride while Charlie Brown was awarded the tournament’s Mr. Hustle accolade.

Sixty-five teams and an estimated 870 players competed over five days at the first JANT since 2020.

This was the first-ever tournament for Coastal Pride, Regan Parks, team manager, told The Northern View.

“I don’t think we had tons of expectations. We were going in this tournament to do our best and have fun,” Parks said.

Coastal Pride was first founded in 2019 and was preparing to head off to the team’s inaugural JANT when it was abruptly cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team manager said.

Going into the 2022 tournament the boys were nervous, Natasha Brown, Coastal Pride assistant manager, said. For some players, it was even their first time competing in a tournament. It was also the first time in two years that the boys had played in front of an audience due to previous pandemic restrictions.

Costal Pride ended up losing their first game to Gitlaxt’aamix, who they would again meet in the finals.

The U13 division at the JANT has a specific set of rules, which they had trained for all year, but found out quickly at the tournament they were not being enforced tightly, Parks said. For example, there is no full-court press permitted nor is there a shot clock during play.

“That really took the wind out of our sails and we kind of realized ‘oh my goodness, we’re not prepared for this,’” Parks said.

However, after the match, the players were able to regroup. The players relaxed and were able to adjust to the style of play at the tournament.

“The kids are so resilient. They just bounced back after the first loss and went into our second game just guns-a-blazing,” Parks said.

Coastal Pride would go on to win their next two group matches to advance to the knock-out stages and battle their way to the final.

“My biggest takeaway from that tournament was seeing them enjoy themselves. The smiles on their faces, even through the losses. I think that’s all the hard work we put in to get the boys there was just so they can have fun and have a good experience and fall in love with the sport even more,” Brown said.

READ MORE: All Native Basketball Tournament confirmed to run full capacity