The Chatelech senior boys' basketball team won its third straight game on Thursday night at home, topping the Rockridge Ravens 77-63.
It was the second win of the week for the Eagles, who edged the Elphinstone Cougars 67-51 in Gibsons on Monday night.
With the pair of wins, the Eagles open league play with a 2-0 record. Their winning streak dates back to just before Christmas when they beat Elphi 84-70.
Although the 14-point win over Rockridge might look impressive on paper, Eagles' coach Bruce Haynes said his team still has a lot of work to do.
"We played very poorly for the first three quarters," Haynes said. "It was a real free-for-all and there was no real consistency. Heading into the fourth quarter we told the guys they had to buckle down and start playing their game. They finally did, and we found a way to win. We were very fortunate to win. Rockridge didn't play as well as they could."
The game started out well for Chat as they won the opening tip-off and promptly headed down the floor for the opening basket. Just one problem - both teams lined up wrong and were shooting at the wrong end of the floor. After consulting with the coaches, the referee took Chat's points off the board and re-started the game.
The first quarter was pretty sluggish for Rockridge as they threw up a lot of wild shots. Chat was able to make a few baskets and led 20-11 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was almost completely void of offense as both teams failed to make a lot of possible shots. Chat outscored Rockridge 15-14 to take a 10-point lead at half-time.
Rockridge came out on fire in the third and used an 8-2 run to cut the Eagles' lead to four at 37-33.
Chat pulled away a bit with a couple of inside shots by Devon Haynes and Matt Skei and ended the quarter leading 49-42.
In the fourth, Rockridge started pressing its defense, trying to create some turn-overs to get back in the game. Chat finally got its offense rolling, outscoring the Ravens 28-21 in the quarter, and they won going away.
"We you start pressing, you can open yourself up to the fast break. Chat used their speed and capitalized on a lot of open shots," said Rockridge assistant coach Ian Armstrong. "It's do or die when you do that, and we just didn't do enough in the end to win."
Haynes led all scorers for Chat with 16 points, while Skei had 14, and Aaron deJong chipped in with 12.
Justin Woodman was high man for Rockridge as he poured in 22.
In Monday's win over Elphi, Chat started out with a 16-0 run and never looked back.
"The lead allowed us to get in all of our players and everyone got some game time," Haynes said. "It was a good start to league play. We had five practices over the holidays, and I think that really helped."
On the other side, Elphi coach Bill Sluis said his squad looked really flat.
"I think the Christmas layoff really contributed," Sluis said. "We did practice over the holidays, but our intensity was lacking. We were able to control Chat's big guys, but they had all-around scoring."
Keegan Sluis was high man for Elphi with 16 points, while Rod Campbell hit for 12.
On Wednesday night, Elphi rebounded in a big way, trouncing Seycove 82-58 in North Vancouver.
Keegan led the way with 29 points, including six three-pointers, while Corey Winters hit for three three-pointers.
"I think the Chat loss woke my guys up. We played with great intensity and it was our best game of the season," Sluis said. "If our outside game is on, we can beat anyone, and that certainly was the case against Seycove."
Both Elphi and Chat have tough schedules ahead of them this week.
Chat plays host to Howe Sound Secondary School from Squamish on Monday night at 5 p.m. then hosts its annual tournament on the weekend. Elphi has a pair of road games in Windsor on Monday, in Squamish Wednesday and in Sechelt for the Chat tournament.
