Cyclones JV Boys Show Experience In ‘Scrimmage’ Win Over Vikings

“It was a good game for us. Today we got to work on some things that made us better basketball players,” Central Cyclones JV Boys basketball head coach Zach Hogerman.

For the JV division leading Cyclones it was a night where despite throttling their game back they dominated in every aspect of the game.

A domination which led to an easy 99 - 34 victory over the visiting Vanier Vikings boys JV team.

“We got to slow the game down a bit. We really put an emphasis to getting to the right spot. But we still want to just play better basketball and we did a good job of that today,” Hogernan said.

The game at times seemed like a game of Keep Away as the Cyclones passed the ball freely thwarting most opportunities for the Cyclones to take possession.

“Yeah, that’s when we try to slow the game down. It’s no secret that we’re experienced JV team and they’re at the point they aren’t experienced basketball players. So yeah, that’s where I try to slow the game down a bit,” he said.

The Cyclones are made up of players in grades 11 and grade 12s.

The Vikings are made up of players as low as grade nine.

“We always want the kids to have fine. We always emphasize making good cuts and passes so we’re playing the game the right way.”

Hogerman said despite the talent imbalance the Cyclones learnt more in the evening than might not be easily noticeable.

“What we learnt is because we’re raw team honestly that we can play sound basketball. You know making good cuts and making good sets and making the right passes. We learned we can get to the right spot on the floor and that will help us engage later in the year.”

He said the team is looking forward to the last few games, the regular season and for some fun games during the playoffs.

Although there is no tournaments planned at this time once the regular season is over, the team may look to see if there are any tournaments they can participate in.

Vikings head coach Rich Adams said for the team playing the Cyclones was like being part of a scrimmage but also Central wasn’t showboating.

“They’ve been doing this to teams all year. Coming in and having a little bit of a scrimmage and a practice with our guys and stuff,” he said.

The win against the South Hill Royal Falcons was a big one for the Vikings.

“We are going to take that (the win over South Hill) and hopefully get a better showing against Lumsden.”

A “no quit attitude” is how the team gets through the games like playing the JV Cyclones.

“It’s the mentality of just roughing it out right to the end and playing as much as a team as we can,” he said.

Despite seeing as a tough battle, he doesn’t see what the cyclones are doing is showboating.

“These guys are like a well towing machine. They’re a good team. They’re good kids,” he said about the Cyclones.

“They’re good kids. They did five or six passes and they didn’t showboat to me.”

He said they can play down to the opposition, but at the same time they have to play their game.

The Scoresheet