At the start of a new season, potential usually has a leg-up on results before reality shines through.
The Byrne Creek senior boys Bulldogs’ head coach Bal Dhillon believes the two could align quicker than anticipated.
Already with six basketball games under their belt, Byrne Creek has displayed some of the grit and skill that will be needed to realize all that potential come February.
“I think the season is such a long climb,” said Dhillon, on the heels of a five-game run over seven days. “Our goals don’t hinge on any particular game but to demonstrate day-in, day-out that we are learning, learning things in practice and implementing them into games.”
On Wednesday, they picked up the season-opening victory in Burnaby-New West league play, beating the visiting New West Hyacks 71-52.
Behind Abdul Bangura’s 20 points and Bithow Wan’s 18, the Bulldogs maintained an edge over a grinding, persistent Hyacks crew before widening the gap in the late stages.
“It was close most of the way. New West is always a tough game, they play hard and you’ve got to play with some grit to beat them.”
A day earlier, the Burnaby squad ventured to Richmond to face McNair, and handed the honourable mentioned team a 74-53 loss.
Turning in strong efforts on both sides of the ball were Wei Deng, Shane Rafferty and Grade 10 Sufi Ahmed.
In his fourth year behind the Bulldogs bench, Dhillon has seen a lot of great kids step up, roll with the punches and make major contributions in seasons where a berth to the B.C.s was within their grasp, only to fall short.
At the first Bulldogs Invitational tournament, the hosts got three good tests, beginning with a solid 91-43 win over league rival Burnaby Mountain. They followed that by nudging Sr. Winston Churchill 85-72, before getting bumped by No. 10-rated Rick Hansen 85-82.
“That game had a few swings – they were up, then we were up,” remarked Dhillon. “Some of their kids hit some big shots towards the end and it really came down to that.”
Byrne Creek opened the season 10 days ago against another ranked opponent, falling 78-51 to top-5 ranked Quad-A Kitsilano.
This year’s roster has all the elements minus a tall, rangy centre, the coach noted.
The leadership core revolves around Ahmed, Bangura and Wan – the latter a season senior player as a Grade 10.
“(Wan) is like any senior kid who has that experience, just he got started in Grade 9,” noted Dhillon. “(Bangura) is the same – he’s a Grade 12 who’s played varsity since Grade 9. We’re lucky to have kids who were capable to make that jump.”
Also counted on for key moments are Wel Deng, Garrett Hill and Tyril Whitebear.
At this stage of the season, getting the work in and seeing how the lessons evolve in game experience are what’s important, said the coach.
“You want to show kids different things, you want them to try things that may not work but keep learning.
“It’s a process – you want them to want to be playing everyday and having fun. These are the things that matter.”
The Bulldogs next test comes this week at the Tsumura tournament in Langley, followed by a league game on Monday, 6:45 p.m. when Cariboo Hill comes to Byrne Creek.
