The Laser from De Rochebelle high school in Quebec City is the team to beat at the youth level this season. It is among other things thanks to the prowess of his playmaker Christophe Tshibola that he manages to maintain an unblemished record.
The province’s top Division 1 youth squad has a perfect record of 15 wins and no losses. On January 14, Tshibola led his team to a 104-97 overtime victory over Collège Saint-Jean-Vianney. He spent the 45 minutes of the game on the floor, amassing 61 points in the process.
“Towards the third quarter, I didn’t score much. At the end, I was told that I had scored 61 points. I did not believe in that, ”said the young man at the microphone of TVA Nouvelles, Thursday.
No need to mention that Tshibola and his teammates are true high school stars. Jason Gaboury, their head coach and a veteran of the program himself, is keen to keep his 15- and 16-year-old proteges down to earth.
“We put a lot of emphasis on developing humans and not just athletes. If in five or six years, half [des joueurs] dropped out of school, it won’t be a 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 human beings,” he explained.
The Laser will play its last game of the season on March 11, with a perfect 16-0 record at stake.