Blue Jags Tip Off League Season with Win Over Spartans

                   Photo by Sarah Scully

By: Mike Edwards

The SMUS Blue Jags tipped off their regular season of the Victoria Tier 1 League Tuesday night, defeating the Claremont Spartans 65-43 in the SMUS single gym. Jake Wilmott dropped in a game high 23 points for the Jags.

Despite a slow start to the game for SMUS, the Blue Jags were able to jump out to a 16-8 lead after the first quarter. Jake Wilmott led all players with 10 points in the opening period and Matty McColl added 5 rebounds.

Claremont struggled shooting the ball in the early going, allowing SMUS to extend the lead to 15 points half way through the second frame. The first half ended with a Matty McColl buzzer-beating lay-in to close out a relatively low scoring half, with the Blue Jags leading 28-16.

It was more of the same in the third, as neither team played particularly well offensively, however SMUS was able to add to their lead and took an 18 point advantage into the fourth quarter.

The Blue Jags wrapped it up in the final frame, securing the 65-43 win. Aside from Wilmott’s 23 point effort, Jason Scully totalled 14 points and 7 rebounds, David Lee contributed 8 assists, and Lucas de Vries recorded 6 rebounds and 3 blocks. For the Spartans, Anton Ngongo scored a team high 12 points and Zack Manns added 11.

Despite the win on opening day of league play, Head Coach Ian Hyde-Lay stressed that the team still has a lot to improve on. "We are a bit behind on the details as a result of the extended soccer season and we have lots to work on.” said Coach Hyde-Lay on the team’s progression.

The Blue Jags will next be in action Friday and Saturday, hosting exhibition games against two top teams from the lower mainland. First up is St. Thomas More at 5:45 PM on Friday evening, followed by RC Palmer Saturday afternoon at 1:45 PM. Both teams are ranked at or near the top of the BC AAA and AA rankings, respectively, which should make for two highly contested tilts.