Titans relaxed, healthy heading into provincials

On Del Komarniski’s desk in the South Kamloops gym office sits a computer, a few pictures of his children, a page of lines written by a girl who had forgotten her gym strip — and the third-place trophy from the 2009 B.C. senior boys basketball championship.

The trophy’s being there wasn’t necessarily to torture Komarniski, who coached the Titans to bronze at last year’s provincials, although it likely did bring up a bad memory or two.

Nope, it was there because Komarniski has to return the trophy to organizers when the Titans arrive at provincials in Vancouver today. The Titans, who won the Okanagan championship on Feb. 27, are to open against the Nanaimo-Dover Bay Dolphins at the Agrodome on Wednesday.

South Kam finished third at provincials in 2009, a disappointing finish when considering that the Titans were ranked No. 1 before provincials.

It’s a different feeling among the Titans this year — South Kam is relaxed, not bogged down by the expectations that come with being the No. 1 seed. South Kam is ranked No. 7, and no one — outside of the players and their coaches — is expecting much.

“There’s a lot less pressure,” said South Kam forward David Wagner. “We’re going in as underdogs, and that’s the way I like to enter tournaments.

“No one is expecting a lot out of us, but we can really prove something at this tournament.”

Talk about a change of pace.

The Titans were ranked No. 1 in B.C. for much of the 2008-09 season, losing but one game before provincials. But they lost in overtime of a provincial semifinal to the Vancouver-St. George’s Saints, who went on to win.

As much as thinking of last year’s tournament pains Komarniski, he knows the experience gained there will help this time around.

“Last year, our inexperience hurt us,” he said. “We had a lot of wide-eyed kids in a novel experience and we didn’t deal with it very well. This year, we’ve got some kids who aren’t as wide-eyed and they want another opportunity.”

This is a different team from 2009, that’s for sure.

Instead of relying on one star — last year, it was forward Kelly Olynyk, now of the Gonzaga Bulldogs — South Kam has spread around its scoring a little better.

The Titans routinely have three players hit double-digits in points, and had five players — Wagner, Josh Wolfram, brothers Tyler and Spencer Jaroszuk and Tim Brunn — score 10 or more points in an Okanagan semifinal victory.

“Last year, they keyed on Kelly a lot — when they stopped him, we weren’t as good,” said Wolfram, a Grade 12 forward. “This year, you can stop one or two players, but we’re still going to have guys who will hurt you.”

And height . . . the Titans have height. Wagner, Wolfram and Tyler Jaroszuk all stand around 6-foot-9.

“We’re definitely the tallest in the tournament,” said Wagner, who is in Grade 11. “We’re very hard to guard, our starting five, because it’s hard for a high school team to guard three 6-foot-9 guys.”

The Titans have been practising hard the last two weeks after beating the Kelowna-Mount Boucherie Bears 91-79 in the Okanagan final.

Two weeks away from the court was just what the doctor ordered, Komarniski says, considering the Titans’ three biggest players —Tyler Jaroszuk, Wagner and Wolfram — all were nursing late-season ankle injuries.

“It gave us an opportunity to heal,” said Komarniski, whose Titans were 8-2 in regular-season play and 2-0 in the playoffs. “We’ve got all the guys healed, and we’ve been fine-tuning everything. It’s been nice.”

It’s all in hopes of replacing that third-place trophy with something a little more golden.

“We’re going in with the mentality that we’re going to win that trophy,” Wagner said. “Anything less is a disappointment.”

mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca

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