The Vashon High School boys’ basketball team made a holiday journey to Victoria, B.C. for the University of Victoria Alumni Invitational tournament Dec. 28 to 30. Among the participants were Ballard High School, Kingston High School four high schools from British Columbia and one from Edmonton, Alberta.

The first draw for Vashon was against Victoria’s Oak Bay Secondary School, ranked seventh in British Columbia in the 4A category of schools. To compete against a school that is about four times the size of Vashon was a lot to ask of the Pirates, but they have experience playing against 4A schools in both the Seattle and Tacoma areas.

The Pirates scored first on a short jumper from Casper Forest. Both teams traded a few turnovers, then Oak Bay hit a long 3-point shot for their first lead. The lead was extended after three straight Pirate turnovers, followed by fast break baskets by the home team. In the second quarter, the Oak Bay height advantage, two players at 6 feet 7 inches and two at 6 feet 5 inches, generated offensive rebounds that translated into many secondary opportunities to score.

Sophomore Tommy Delargy made two quick slashes to the basket for scores, and Jahmiah Hoogen added to the scoring punch of Forest, but the half ended with VHS behind 28-17.

In the second half, Delargy stole a pass and scored on a lay-in to bring the Pirates to 28-21. This was the closest VHS could get, as Oak Bay answered with a 10-2 run.

Neither team shot well, VHS’ 29 percent to Oak Bay’s 36 percent, but Vashon was 1-13 from beyond the 3-point line, and that many long misses compounded the disadvantage in size. The final score was 60-43. With this loss, VHS now has a record of 3-3.

Forest led Vashon with 18 points followed by Delargy with eight.

On Thursday, the next VHS opponent in the tournament consolation bracket was Saint Michaels University Secondary School, currently ranked as the best 2A school in B.C.

Saint Michaels started hitting early and often as the team ran out to an 8-0 lead before Vashon answered with two buckets to get it to 8-5. SMU managed to find open shooters from beyond the 3-point line, as VHS struggled to adequately contest their shots. They had made six threes at half time and led 37-22.

In the second half, SMU cooled, and Vashon got more aggressive. Noah Edmonds hit a three with five minutes left in the third quarter to cut the lead to six points at 45-39. Next, the Pirates started getting the ball in the paint to Ethan Danielsen, and he showed that the tall guy with space and time can score. He hit on five of nine shots and at the end of the third quarter, the SMU lead was at eight points.

The fourth quarter was a battle. Vashon had fought back from what seemed like a potential rout during the first half, to a game where the Pirates stopped allowing easy SMU buckets and now could gain on the lead. Vashon was scoring on its end of the court, and that helped, but SMU spent a lot of time at the foul line. It proved to be time well spent, as they were 17 for 22 from the charity stripe while Vashon was 5 for 7. This 10-point differential in free throw shooting was too big for the Pirates to overcome, falling 69-63. The scoring leaders were Forest with 23 points and Danielsen with 10.

On the third day of the tournament, Vashon beat Lambrick Park, 71-64, for seventh place, while the Ballard High School Beavers won the tournament.

The Lambrick Park Lions are a four-year high school in Victoria that plays in a 2A league and has about 700 students.

VHS started fast with Rhys Jennings and Forest each hitting their first 3-point shots and Danielsen putting in a short bucket for an early 8-2 lead. After a 3-point play by the LP big man, Pirate Langston Dziko hit a long 3-point shot from the left corner, putting the score at 11-5. Sophomore Delargy, fouled during a 3-point shot, calmly stepped up to the line and buried all three free throws as VHS pushed the lead to 16-7.

Vashon led at the half 40-30. In the third quarter, LP rallied with deft inside passes and easier shots in the paint to narrow the margin to 51-48. On the other end of the court, Vashon was 0-9 from the 3-point line and 4-8 from inside the paint. This difference in fortunes from closer range showed the Pirates where their focus should be in the fourth quarter.

Noah Edmonds hit two 8-foot jump shots, Delargy slashed into the right side of the lane for a lay-up, followed by Hoogen hitting a mid-range jumper and two free throws as the Pirates raced away from Limbrick Park in the final quarter. The VHS scoring was quite balanced with Hoogen getting 15, followed by Dziko, Edmonds, Delargy and Jennings with 10 points each.

Vashon played Chimacum on Tuesday after press time. The first league game is Friday at Charles Wright Academy, followed by a home game Saturday against Seattle Academy. The game time is JV at 4:30 pm, followed by varsity at 6 p.m.

— Daniel Briggs is the father of a Pirate basketball player.