Most basketball teams have a sixth man, the player a coach can rely on for minutes and points at a number of positions when starters get gassed.
But the Tupper Tigers have a bench that goes much deeper. Head coach Jeff Gourley can turn to his roster and call up the 16th man.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had some very, very strong teams over the years but I guess of those strong teams, they were always anchored by an all-province or an all-Canadian player,鈥� said Gourley.
Tigers alumni include James Lum and Cameron Smythe, both players who excelled at Tupper and advanced to numerous MVP honours and to scholarships at CIS programs.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have one of those special kids on the team but I鈥檝e got 16 kids who can all play.鈥�
At times during tight games, coaches have to ask themselves what player will hurt their team the least. Gourley says he鈥檚 lucky to have a different kind of problem.
鈥淭oday, my biggest problem is getting them all playing time and keeping them happy because they are all talented. It鈥檚 a great situation for a coach to be in. No coach can complain about that.鈥�
The starters include seniors D.J. Segue, Ron Ronquillo and Sumit Gangar in addition to Grade 11 six-for-four forward Niko Mottus. Saurav Acharya, a grade 12 student named an all-star at the Sutherland Classic earlier this month, starts for the Tigers at point guard.
Two transfers from northern B.C., John Tait and Taylor Ross, are welcome and unexpected editions. The most athletically gifted player on the deep roster is Patrick Smythe, younger brother to the seven-foot alum and a very accomplished baseball player.
The intangible quality with this group is commitment, said the coach. Each player buys into to the program and many found their passion in elementary school when coaches like Gourley dropped in to run clinics and drum up excitement.
To signal their dedication, the players spearheaded a fundraising drive to purchase new uniforms. They put close to $5,000 in the bank and bought flashy Nike uniforms at the cost of $175 each.
The sentimentalists on the team also did their coach and school proud by approaching alumni for donations to improve the home and away team benches. The donor鈥檚 names will be engraved in the wood of the more comfortable seats.
The Tigers have also found a suitable home thank to the new AAAA tier. Always a AA school by the previous measurements, Tupper nonetheless played up at AAA. They were competitive some seasons but very far from the top in others. Now a AAA school and playing at that level, the Tigers are ranked No. 6 in B.C. and could go as far into playoffs as their bench is deep.
鈥淣ow, instead of us competing against the schools that have 4,000 and 2,500 students, we can comp with those schools at around 600 or 800 like us.鈥�
