De Rochebelle High School’s Lasers in Quebec City are the team to beat at the youth level this season. It is thanks in part to the skill of playmaker Christophe Tshibola that he has managed to maintain an impeccable record.
The province’s top Division 1 youth team has a perfect record of 15 wins and no losses. On January 14, Tshibola led his team to a 104-97 victory in overtime over Collège Saint-Jean-Vianney. He spent the game’s 45 minutes on the ground, accumulating 61 points.
“I didn’t score much against the third quarter. At the end I was told that I had scored 61 points. I didn’t believe in that,” said the young man at the microphone of TVA Nouvelles on Thursday.
Needless to say, Tshibola and his teammates are true high school stars. Jason Gaboury, their head coach and a veteran of the program himself, wants to keep his 15- and 16-year-old charges grounded.
“We attach great importance to the development of people and not just of athletes. If in five or six years, half [des joueurs] dropped out of school, there will be no success. So yes, we want to win, but at the end of the day, win or lose, we want to make sure they become good people,” he explained.
The Laser will play their final game of the season on March 11, with a perfect 16-0 record at stake.