Long trip doesn’t help Canadian high school team
by Ken Brazzle on Dec. 27, 2008, under SportsWaterloo, Ontario team gets here 90 minutes before game time
Sunnyside's Juan Sanchez tries for 2 against Flowing Wells on Friday. FW won 55-51.
To say Friday was a long day for the Waterloo (Ontario) High School boys basketball team would be an understatement.
The team arrived less than 90 minutes before its game with host Mountain View. Waterloo had enough energy to lead 22-21 at halftime, but it wore down in the second half as Mountain View won 43-37 in a Northwest Desert Classic game.
“I think all the travel we did was a factor,” said Waterloo coach Craig Nickel. “We left Buffalo (N.Y.) at 4 a.m. this morning. We flew from Buffalo to Chicago and Chicago to Phoenix. Then we had to drive from Phoenix to Tucson.
“We got to Tucson around 5:30. We checked into our hotel and got here an hour before the game. We’ve had a long day.”
Mountain View came out in the second half a different team. Chris Olson and Aaron Anderson asserted themselves on the boards. Olson would finish with a team-high 14 points. Guard Scott Volpe was also in double figures with 11.
Alex Copp led Waterloo with 12 points and Jasper Wesson added 10.
“I want to give a lot of credit to Mountain View,” Nickel said. “I thought they made some good adjustments at halftime and played a lot harder defensively.”
Mountain View led 36-30 at the end of the third. It outscored Waterloo 15-8 in the quarter.
“We’re really pleased with the kids,” said Mountain View assistant Mike Dyer, who filled in for coach Mike Parillo.
“Up until this tournament, they haven’t shown a lot of confidence. They had enough confidence to believe they could finish the game and we haven’t had that.”
