Langara basketball teams aiming for provincials

Reported by Ana Rose Walkey

Early into the basketball season, the Langara Falcons men’s and women’s basketball teams are already aiming to make a statement in the PacWest provincials.

The 2017-18 PacWest basketball season is still fresh. The women’s team, who lost all four games, started the season losing games by about 30 points, but have shrunk that deficit to as low as two points. The men’s team started the season with a loss but have won every game since.

Nikko Sahagun, a guard for the women’s team, is hoping the team will make provincials so they can make up for their second to last place last year.

“Although we’ve been losing by 30, it’s only the beginning of a new season and new team, new legacy,” Sahagun said.

Winston Brown, head coach for the women’s team, said a combination of some of the players being injured and having inexperienced young  players is the reason for their performance so far.

“Our success had to come not on the scoreboard but in being able to execute things, being able to remember what we are,” Brown said.

Timothy Choi, a guard for the men’s team, said the team hopes to win provincials.

“If we work hard, listen to our coaches and trust each other we can be a really good team in this league,” Choi said.

Head coach Paul Eberhardt said ideally they want to make sure the team peaks come February and March.

“Well, I mean we’re early still in the year, we had a pretty good pre-season,” Eberhardt said. “We’ve got four more league games before Christmas, so obviously, we want to win all of those if we can.”

Both teams will be playing at home against Vancouver Island University on Friday.