Just past the midway mark in the regular season, the Quest men's basketball team is in good form to make the playoffs for the first time in its young history.
The Kermodes reached the .500 mark by sweeping the Camosun College Chargers in Victoria Friday and Saturday (Jan. 22 and 23). The 63-60 and 77-64 doubleheader victories settled Quest into fifth place in the 10-team British Columbia Colleges' Athletic Association.
The road trip came at a heavy price, however. Team captain and point guard Bryce Froberg sustained a shoulder injury in the final minutes of Friday's game and was forced to watch Saturday's game from the bench with his arm in a sling.
Fellow third year veteran Tyler Thorau did an impressive job stepping into Froberg's shoes, said head coach Sean Shook. Despite averaging about 15 minutes per game prior to the road trip, Thorau led the team with 38 minutes on the court Saturday, scoring 11 points and recording four rebounds and seven assists.
"He stepped up big time," said Shook.
As did Joel Wollenberg, Tyson Compton and John Pankratz, who scored 16, 13 and 13 points respectively on Saturday.
"Those are older guys that are starting to mature and take on more of a leadership role," added Shook.
Quest had consistency issues on Friday. The defence pressed Camosun hard and built a 15-0 lead in the first quarter, but a second quarter relapse allowed Camosun to charge back and take a 31-25 lead at halftime. In the end, the Kermodes rallied back with some key buckets from Sam Jeanes, Thorau and Mukiya Post.
Froberg led the team in points with 12 and Jeanes followed with 10 points.
Meanwhile, the Quest women's team played two close games but didn't leave Victoria with a win. Camosun won 63-57 on Friday and 62-51 on Saturday.
The losses drop Quest below .500 with four wins six losses. The team showed a bit of rust in its first league games since before the holiday break, said head coach Todd Jordan.
"We played reasonably well but it just wasn't enough playing against a more experienced team. It was disappointing to not walk out of there with at least one win because I thought we could have got at least one coming out," he said.
Krystal Schouten led with 20 points on Friday, followed by Delainee Behrns with 13 points. On Saturday, Soraya Jung scored 11 points while Courtney Harpur and Behrns each tallied 10 points.
The Quest squads traveled to Capilano College on Wednesday (Jan. 27) and will host the Blues for its final home games today (Jan. 29). The women play at 6 p.m. and the men play at 8 p.m.
