New leadership for West Island Lakers Basketball Association

BY MICHAEL PIASETZKI



After five years as president of the West Island Lakers Basketball Association (WILBA), Mike Gaudin finally decided it was time to step down from a job well done last spring.

Steve Brayne, who served as WILBA vice- president in charge of boys’ house league last year, was elected his replacement, inheriting big shoes to fill. Gaudin, who will probably go down in WILBA history as one of its most valuable and highly regarded achievers, lifted WILBA to another level. He continually improved and solidified its house-league program, and came up with the idea of combining the WILBA all-star weekend in February with the Sian Bradwell Fund, which raises money to help fight cancer.

As a result, Brayne entered the prestigious volunteer position with the old adage if it isn’t broken, then don’t fix it. However, that doesn’t mean the organization could not benefit from a little tweaking, something Brayne has already started on.

“We’re looking at perhaps adding a third practice next year for our inter-city teams,� said Brayne, who is head coach this year of the midget AAA inter-city boys’ Lakers. “One of our difficulties though, is the fact we’re not funded by any city or borough. So, it’s a cost factor. But I would like to improve our inter-city program, and practice is the only way to do that. As far as house league goes, it remains healthy, although we did have a wee dip in our registration. That comes as no surprise though. We knew that was coming because demographic projections have showed a decrease in children in general in the West Island. On the positive side, our girls’ programs are up.�

Speaking of WILBA house league, the three gyms at John Rennie High School in Pointe Claire were busy as usual on Saturday, including the upper one, which hosted the boys’ mid-afternoon bantam tussle between the Raptors and Celtics. Heading in, the Raptors stood at 3-1-1 while the Celtics at 3-2. Even though the Celtics wore green, there was no luck of the Irish for them on this day — particularly during the first half — when far too many of their shots either hit the rim and failed to fall or flat-out missed completely allowing the Raptors to cruise to a convincing 47-35 victory.

“A satisfying win,� said Raptors head coach Charles Carlisle, who also serves as WILBA registrar. “We pride ourselves on our defence, using the philosophy it’s the No. 1 way to win games, and have concentrated on that during the first part of the year. We gave our kids a defensive target to meet today and they did just that. Our offence is also starting to come about.�

Not during the first quarter, though, which ended with the Raptors up by a more hockey-like score of 8-4. Both teams came out of the gate extremely sluggish. In fact, it seemed like nobody wanted to score, as both sides traded turns missing shots. The Celtics continued to miss in the second quarter as well, only managing three more points while the Raptors offence got itself from neutral into at least first gear, adding 13 to head into the break up 21-7.

After trailing 31-16 following the third period, the Celtics offence finally got into a bit of a rhythm, narrowing the gap to 33-25 midway through the fourth, but they would never get closer. The Raptors extended the lead to 20 before Carlisle allowed everybody on his bench to play during the final five minutes, enabling the Celtics to cut it to the final 12.

“We didn’t play well in the first half,� said Celtics head coach Mark Tobin. “You have to score more than seven points in a half to be competitive at any level. Still, last week we gave up 63 points, this week 47, so I have to be encouraged by our defence. I believe the Raptors are a better team at this point of the season. But we’ll come along. We’ll get better.�

Chase Carreau lead the Raptors with 10 points while Ryan Tobin led the Celtics with seven.