C.K. looking for early start on winning season

BY JOHN DECOSTE

Kings County Register

After four straight provincial runner-up finishes, Central Kings senior boys’ basketball coach Stan MacVicar can probably be excused for thinking this will finally be the year his team breaks through.

“We’ve lost three players from last year’s team, but we’ve gained a whole lot more,” MacVicar says of the Gators, who officially open their season this weekend with the Kings County Honda Tip-Off Tournament.

“We look like we should be better than last year, when we finished a surprising second in the province,” he says – the only year in C.K.’s current string of runner-up finishes that was arguably a surprise rather than a disappointment.

This weekend’s tournament, which will be played at West Kings due to a conflict in scheduling, should be a competitive and entertaining weekend, with Park View, Halifax Grammar School and Kings-Edgehill joining the host Gators.

Central Kings will open at 4 p.m. Friday against Kings-Edgehill, followed by Grammar versus Kings-Edgehill at 6 p.m. and the Gators meeting Park View at 8 p.m.

Saturday, Grammar will take on Park View at 9 a.m., Grammar versus C.K. at 11:30 a.m. and Kings-Edgehill against Park View at 1 p.m.

The Gators’ roster features “11 or 12 strong returning players,” including Dustin Poirier, Jeremy Shepherd, Austin Clem and Matt and James Nunn - each of whom started at least some of their team’s games last season; and athletic Shawndell Sampson.

Replacing the graduated Nick DeAdder, Trevor Mollins and Jack Moores are a strong crop of former C.K. juniors, including Jeff Mollins, Jalen Sabean, Andrew Jennings-Lindsay and George Bitar - all of whom are in Grade 10 this year.

C.K. has also added Thomas Baltzer, a member of the provincial U-17 team who transferred from West Kings. Baltzer, in Grade 10 this year, “should fit in well.”