By JAMES NORTON
For The Beachcomber

The Pirate boys’ basketball team travelled to Phoenix Dec. 26 to 31 to participate in the Cactus Jam high school tournament. Teams from all over the United States were in the field.

The Pirates won their opener against Dimond High School of Anchorage and then took down local power, Thunderbird High School from Phoenix. Both these schools are much larger than Vashon, so the victories were hard fought. Due to the Pirates’ bracket being short one leg, the team had to play Dimond again for the tournament championship.

The final game was an emotional and exhaustive saga in itself and ended in somewhat bizarre fashion, in overtime, with the other team having scored 1 more point than the Pirates.

Jessie Norton and Sam Yates were both named to the All-Tournament team. The trip was a culmination of several hundred group hours of fundraising efforts by the entire team.

There’s no place like home, though, and the boys bounced back to their winning ways on Jan. 3 against St. Michael’s University School of British Columbia.

The first half ended with a slim 4-point lead for the Pirates, but they came out fast and furious in the third and fourth quarters and doubled up the Canadians, ending with a final score of 52-26.

The team was pleased to have a former Pirate, Zach Andrus, back in the gym. He is an assistant coach for the St. Michael’s team. Scoring totals for that game were Norton 17, Yates 11, Symbol 8, Schoenberg 5, Tillman 4, May-Power 2, Forest 2 and Stewart 1.

The Pirates play at home next at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 9, and Tuesday, Jan. 20.

— James Norton is the father of a Pirate basketball player.