The Dover senior boys basketball team is ranked number eight in the province in 3a. They just won their last tournament in Salmon Arm and are preparing to play in the UVIC Invitational starting on Dec. 28. (Aden Vu @VUONFILM)

By Dan Marshall

Early Season Success

Dover Bay senior boys basketball team wins Salmon tournament, holds top ten provincial ranking

Dec 24, 2023 | 6:10 AM

NANAIMO — Success has come early for the Dover Bay senior boys basketball team.

The team heads into Christmas 2-0 in league play and coming off a win in their most recent tournament in Salmon Arm.

Dover defeated Correlieu out of Quesnel, Bishop O’Byrne from Calgary and then knocked out the host Salmon Arm team 95-69 in the final.

Head coach Darren Seaman was proud of the effort from the group.

“The final game against Salmon Arm we were just clicking. We just played off our defense, we had tons of steals and run out layups. Frank Lindor got 36 points and Tarman Sandhu had 31 and hit seven three pointers.”

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The trip to Salmon Arm was key for the development of the team on the court and Seaman said it offered an off floor experience that today’s students don’t get very often.

“The first thing is competitive games. But we were told there was going to be a dance and we wanted our boys to share in that sense of community. There was the appeal that our kids could experience something that they don’t get to experience anymore in this day and age. They don’t have school dances anymore, they don’t do anything like that in Nanaimo.”

Immediately after Christmas, Dover will get back into more tournament play but this time closer to home.

“Our next tournament is the UVIC Alumni Invitational. We play a team from the U.S. in our first game on the 28^th of December. After Christmas we have the Vancouver College tournament in January, and then the first week of February we’re at the Rick Hansen tournament which has all the best 3A teams in the province.”

Dover Bay is one of the top teams in B.C. right now and are ranked eighth in the province in 3A.

The senior boys did have a higher ranking in November but Seaman feels the team is where it should be nearly four months before the provincial tournament.

“We did start out as the second team in the province and then we dropped to eighth. We also went to two of the most competitive tournaments and played all 4A provincially ranked teams as our test right out of the gate. With a combination of tough competition and not being settled in, we took our lumps initially but I think our schedule was a lot tougher than most of the other 3A teams in the province.”

Dover is playing three Grade 12’s with a group of Grade 11’s and a starting point guard in Grade 9.

Seaman hopes the players will take away a mix of life lessons and basketball skills from their overall experience, and with that that the results will come.

“The program’s goal is to develop productive human beings in the community. At the same time we’re competitive basketball coaches and we want to develop our guys who want to go on and play. They really need to experience tough competition and see what else is out there in the province. Doing those things is more important than actually winning tournaments.”

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