The Credo Christian Kodiaks set the tone early, not allowing a single basket in the opening 10 minutes. Buoyed by that strong start on the defensive side of the ball, the Kodiaks senior boys basketball team cruised to a 68-42 victory over the Unity Christian Flames.
The two senior boys basketball teams were playing in the Fraser Valley 1A championship game on Saturday night at Chilliwack’s Unity Christian.
“Winning Fraser Valleys was one of our goals form the start,” said Kodiaks coach Justin Vanderploeg. “At the beginning of the year it was very apparent we had the talent to do it. We just had to put in a lot of work (and) the boys did just that and it was really nice to see the hard work pay off.”
Credo Christian was the top seed at Fraser Valleys and they beat Agassiz 85-47 in the quarter-finals and Meadowridge 69-54 in the semifinals.
The Kodiaks went 6-2 in league play and 14-7 overall.
In the most recent high school rankings, the Kodiaks came in at seventh.
The team returns five players from last year’s squad which finished fourth at the B.C. provincial 1A championships, tying an all-time best for the program.
“Last year was our first year to provincials in a long time so we are hoping to build on that experience with a better finish this year,” Vanderploeg said. “Now we have a better idea going in the kind of hard work it will take to be successful there.”
At Fraser Valleys, Dustin Flokstra was named an all-star while Levi Leyenhorst was the most valuable player.
“(Levi) played a great tournament, especially in the finals,” Vanderploeg said. “He does a great job running our offence from the point and scores the ball very well.”
The provincial championships run March 9 to 12 at the Langley Events Centre.