Massey basketball program honoured
Nick Lother, Kyler Filewich awarded by Basketball Manitoba
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This article was published 07/05/2018 (2936 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A high school basketball program in Fort Garry is being recognized provincially for its achievements on the court.
Vincent Massey Collegiate’s Nick Lother and Kyler Filewich were both winners at Basketball Manitoba’s annual awards event on April 14. Lother, the head coach of the varsity boys basketball team, was named AAAA boys coach of the year, and Filewich, a Grade 11 forward with the team, was named AAAA player of the year.
While Lother says the individual recognition is nice to receive, the award also speaks to the efforts of the team, parents, and school community that supported the Trojans in their bid for a provincial championship title.
The Trojans were finalists in the Manitoba High School Athletics Association AAAA provincial varsity basketball championship earlier this year, losing 72-69 to the St. Paul’s Crusaders.
Lother has been at the head of the Trojans program for four years and said the journey to the championship game didn’t happen over the course of three months, or even over a school year.
“Us getting to the provincial final this year was four years worth of work. We didn’t necessarily have the talent four years ago to get where we got but we had a group of kids that believed in the philosophy and the cornerstones of our program,” Lother said.
“The people that are here right now are benefiting from that and continue to align themselves with what we’re doing.”
Since taking over the program, Lother has instituted a year-round basketball program at VMC that’s open to all students in the high school. The idea is to keep athletes active and working on their skills in the off season and develop the depth of talent at VMC, he said.
“I work in a really good school in that there’s a lot of support with athletics here,” Lother said. “There’s a lot of people around here that understand what kind of work has to be put in place so it makes my job quite easy.
“There are a lot of families that are quite involved and a lot of student athletes that come here with a lot of skill that make my job as a coach pretty easy,” he added.
“Our program wouldn’t be where it’s at right now if that wasn’t the case.”
The Trojans are expecting to return to competition with a solid bench next season as well, Lother said. A number of players will return for their senior year with provincial championship experience.
However, Filewich, who plays club basketball with Canada Elite and has been touring Ontario with the team for the past few weeks, is currently entertaining offers to play at prep schools in Ontario and the States.
The 6-8 forward said he was averaging 32 points and 18 rebounds per game during the high school season, and after receiving the player of the year award in Grade 11, has a new set of goals to work towards.
“I was quite honoured. It recognizes the No. 1 in the province so it’s quite the honour. I was just happy and proud of myself,” Filewich said of receiving the award.
The 16-year-old said he hopes to play in either the NCAA or U Sports (following in the footsteps of older sister Keylyn Filewich who is a forward with University of British Columbia Thunderbirds) and is weighing his options for his senior year of high school ball.
“I’m just not quite sure what I want to do yet,” Filewich said.
“I want to keep working as hard as I can and see how far that takes me and see what I can do, reach my full potential, you know,” he said.