Bays Edge Blue Jags in Nail-biter

                    Photo by Mike Edwards

By: Mike Edwards

The highly anticipated matchup between the SMUS Blue Jags and Oak Bay Bays certainly lived up to the hype, as the two teams went toe to toe Friday Night at Oak Bay High School in front of a raucous capacity crowd with roughly equal support for the two sides. In the end, the Bays (ranked third in BC at the AAAA level) came out on top 65-59; however SMUS can take plenty of positives away from a game that could have gone either way.

Both teams got off to fast offensive starts, as Oak Bay and SMUS shot the ball at a high percentage in the first frame. After a back-and-forth opening quarter, Oak Bay held a 20-17 lead.

The Bays extended their lead early on in the second thanks to a 5-0 run, but SMUS roared back with a 16-4 run of their own to close the half. At the break, SMUS was up 33-29. Jason Scully led the way at the half with 10 points and Graeme Hyde-Lay dropped in 9 and added 3 assists.

The Bays came out strong to start the third, taking the lead back and heading to the final period with a 53-48 advantage. Oak Bay added to their lead early in the fourth, taking a 9 point lead at one point. SMUS didn't quit, however, battling back to cut it to 4 after Hyde-Lay picked off a pass and went coast to coast for the lay-in. But a costly miscommunication by the Blue Jags on an inbounds play with inside a minute to go took the wind out of their sails, as the Bays iced the game with a pair of free throws to close out the 65-59 victory.

Hyde-Lay finished as the high-point man for the Blue Jags, putting up 23 points. Meanwhile, Scully chipped in with 15 points and 5 rebounds, Jake Wilmott registered 7 points and 7 boards, and Liam Catto totalled 9 points on 3-for-4 shooting from beyond the arc.

Despite the loss, the Blue Jags put forward a valiant effort and rose to the occasion, putting together one of their best overall performances of the season. Ultimately, however, it was SMUS' lack of execution on the small details that gave Oak Bay the edge, according to Blue Jags Head Coach Ian Hyde-Lay.

"Over the 40 minutes they were the better team." said Coach Hyde-Lay after the game, "Areas that we knew would be a concern were dribble penetration and defensive rebounding and that was the case. The most important time of the game is the first four minutes of the third quarter and we were very poor in that time frame."

"We had a lot of good efforts and we have some little areas where we have to get better." continued Hyde-Lay, "those little mistakes are things we can get away with against lesser opponents but not against Oak Bay."

Next up for the Blue Jags is a Victoria Tier 1 League date at home versus Belmont on Tuesday night at 7:30 PM. Then, the Jags will enter play in the Police Tournament hosted at SMUS from January 15-17, where, as Coach Hyde-Lay put it, the team is "really hoping to do [their] part and hopefully get another crack at Oak Bay in the final."