Bob Dodds sounds terrible over the phone.

Speaking to the Courier from home while off from work taking a sick day on Monday, the longtime West Point Grey Academy basketball coach admits he has caught the same virus that is making the rounds and decimating the ranks of his senior boys 'A' Grey Wolves squad.

"A lot of us are struggling with some kind of bug," said Dodds, the 2011 recipient of the Mike Potkonjak Coaching Excellence Award for Lower Mainland high school basketball coach of the year. "It's pretty brutal."

The Wolves began the 2012-13 season with a 7-0 tear in December exhibition games to propel them to the top of their provincial division of smaller-sized schools.

The team has since struggled over the past two weekends and has dropped to third place behind the surging St. Patrick's Celtics replacing them in first place.

The Wolves still managed to win two out of three games this past weekend at the Island Showdown tournament in Victoria, beating the Glenlyon Norfolk Gryphons 86-66 and Pemberton secondary Red Devils 66-41 but losing to the Duncan Christian Chargers 77-64.

They also narrowly lost a game the previous weekend to St. John's Eagles 65-61, who have since moved up to second place. West Point Grey Academy previously beat the Eagles this season 53-45 and 81-53.

The Vancouver team is heading down the highway to St. John Brebeuf secondary in Abbotsford this week for the Big Bear Classic tournament and playing division games on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Their first game is a rematch against the Chargers, and Dodds is hoping his b-ballers manage to bounce back to health.

However, they will most likely have to do without the services of their 6'2, 16-year-old star player.

"Our best player, Alex Coote, is sick and he may have pneumonia so without him. I think our chances aren't as good, obviously, but other than that we are looking forward to at least getting to the final, but I'm not sure how that is going to go without him," said Dodds.

"We still have some time and once we get back to full strength, we will still be a contender. One or two [sick] players at a school our size really makes a huge difference to our performance."

Only two teams from the Lower Mainland zone will qualify to compete in the B.C. Boys A Championships held March 6-9 at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford.

afleming@vancourier.com

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