West Vancouver vs Argyle

In another mild upset today, West Van beat Argyle 66-63 in the first round of the AAA Howe Sounds. I say upset because West Van's starting PG and arguably their best scorer was still sidelined with a wrist injury. The crowd started out pretty thin, but started filling in especially with the Handsworth/Carson double-header looming, I say around 70 or so people to watch the end of the game. Argyle and West Van were 2nd/3rd in the Howe Sounds and so were setup to face each other for Round 1. The Pipers are led by Provincial Player Mac Fairbairn while the Highlanders by Sonny Nelson and Jamie Rees.

The game was slow to develop for the first quarter. Both teams were pretty sloppy with lots of missed shots, and turnovers, nobody really stood out and the game was pretty close at the end of the quarter. tied in the teens.

The 2nd quarter pretty much echoed the first quarter. What amazed me was how bad both teams were at shooting the ball. West Van couldn't score from anywhere outside of the key, Argyle wasn't much better. In some games you see teams shoot the 3 way too much, that wasn't the case tonight. Both teams were playing very physical defense and the fouls started to pick up toward the end of the half. Still a very tight game, Argyle by 5 or so in the high 20s.

The 3rd quarter saw the Pipers start to stretch a lead. With Fairbarn slicing and dicing his way through the defense the Pipers looked poised for the victory leading by as many as 12. The highlanders had some foul trouble and so they couldn't be as physical as they wanted to in the 3rd. At the end of 3, Argyle by 10 or so in the low 40s.

Things started opening up in the 4th as both teams began upping the tempo. Both teams exchanging basket for basket. But the Pipers started to make some mistakes, quick turnovers, and quick 3 point shots that mostly missed allowed the Highlanders to sneak back into the game. With about 3.5 min left, the Highlanders tied and took the lead for good by being aggressive offensively and getting the calls. When the Highlanders eventually took the lead, the Pipers seemed to close up and turnovers started piling up. A few missed free throws later by the Pipers, and the Highlanders had locked up the win on made free throws.

The win for the Highlanders was most impressive because of 2 reasons. Their starting PG and best shooter Pat Clark did not play due to the wrist injury, and they won with toughness. Besides Clark and Jamie Rees, the Highlanders do not have any real playmakers. They are a team made up of mostly converted football players that you can tell aren't ballers. These aren't guys that work on their game, shooting 500 shots a day, working on their moves. Sonny Nelson is a decent replacement for Clark, but the guy shoots standing still. That's what was impressive about the win. They didn't win with superior skill, talent, or athleticism, they won by playing hard and physical. Darien Martin exemplifies their team. He doesn't have much skill, but he's tough as nails and can scrap with the best of them. Every team could use a Martin, he's like a Dennis Rodman or Charles Oakley, they don't score much but they do all the dirty work.

The Pipers are a very young team, almost all Juniors. They have a lot of height, but as we saw tonight, they need to add some muscle. Mac Fairbairn is a great player. He's a great finisher and is great off the dribble. As a Junior, he'll only get better. He'll need to add a consistent 15ft jumper to his game to get to that next level. I knew that without Clark, the Highlanders wouldn't have any outside shooting, but I was surprised that the Pipers were almost as inept. There were several airballs and badly missed shots. They'll have to improve their shooting if they want to be considered a ranked team next year.

As Handsworth has pretty much locked up the lone Howe Sound seed for the Provincials, I don't think either team will go past these playoff games. In previous years, the 2nd Howe Sound seed played a backdoor game vs a FV team for a wildcard berth, but I've heard rumors that Van College will be playing that game instead of the 2nd Howe Sound seed. I guess we're about to find out soon enough...