Jeklin a shooting star for fired-up T-Birds
Willy Jeklin hangs in the air for a moment at the end of another smooth left-handed follow-through.
You can almost follow the trajectory of the ball perfectly, as it falls for yet another three-pointer.
Jeklin drained three in rapid succession during a fourth-quarter surge by the Cowichan Thunderbirds Saturday in an exhibition senior boys’ basketball game against Oak Bay at Cowichan Secondary School.
Jeklin finished with four three-pointers overall and 24 total points to lead the T-Birds back from a 47-42 third-quarter deficit. They took leads of 53-52 and 58-57 before eventually losing 62-58, but made a huge statement about being a contender on the island.
“Usually we don’t play a full 40 minutes,’’ said Jeklin. “It was good to see the whole time.
“I don’t usually make the threes. In practice, I always miss them. I just got hot. A couple of shots I didn’t even see the rim. I just threw it up.’’
Jeklin was happy coach Sandeep Heer revolved his play-calling around him.
“I never got a play where he’s made it for me to shoot the three,’’ said Jeklin. “I felt pretty good about that.’’
Jeklin also had three rebounds and two steals. Mitch Knippelberg chipped in with 15 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.
“I think we’re just playing closer to a complete game than we have all year,’’ said Heer. “We were right in there against a really good team.’’
Cowichan also beat Claremont 70-64 Friday with 18 points from Knippelberg and 15 by Jeklin.
Three other players reached double figures in scoring. Jerod Dorby had 14 while Andrew Larson and Jimmy Baker added 10 apiece.
Dorby was big on the boards with 11 rebounds.
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