The difference between December and March as far as the Terry Fox Ravens and the Oak Bay Bays are concerned is about 20 points -- either way.
After getting blasted by 10 buckets by the Bays in an exhibition game Dec. 9 in Victoria, the Ravens turned the hoops virtually completely around Wednesday on way to an emphatic 73-52 victory in their opening game at the B.C. AAA senior boys high school basketball championships at Langley Events Centre.
"We were prepared this time around," explained Fox head coach Steve Hanson, whose team entered the provincials ranked No. 5 compared with the Bays' No. 8 billing. "We didn't give Oak Bay the respect they deserved the first time around and we paid for it. Our coaching staff did an excellent job preparing... walking through our defensive match-ups and watching game film. Our preparation gave us confidence."
The Ravens advanced to face their heated Fraser Valley rivals, the No. 2-seeded Pitt Meadows Marauders, who handled east Vancouver's Sir Charles Tupper Tigers 64-51 in their first-round affair. Fox and Pitt were slated to meet yesterday (Thursday, after The News' deadline) at 4:45 p.m., with the winner moving into the semifinals.
The Marauders are ranked second only to the No. 1 Kelowna Owls, who clobbered back-door entry the Point Grey Greyhounds 84-53 later Wednesday.
Versus Oak Bay, six-foot-seven post Ryan Sclater poured in a game-high 22 points to pace the Ravens, who shot a sizzling 55.6 per cent from the field compared with 39.7 for the Tigers.
The Ravens led by five after the first quarter and 37-27 at halftime before blowing things open in the second half.
Sclater, who's geared to play volleyball starting next fall on a university athletic scholarship with the Trinity Western Spartans, also snared a game-best 12 rebounds to record a double-double.
"Our best players have to be our best players," Hanson told The Tri-City News after. "However, Ryan understands he must play within himself as we have other guys capable of scoring."
That was most evident Wednesday, when no fewer than nine players hit the scoresheet for Fox. Trevor Casey canned 16 points for the well-balanced Ravens, who got 11 more from Jesse Crookes.
The Ravens also connected on an impressive eight-of-19 attempts from three-point territory.
