Story and Photos by Christian J. Stewart (ISN)
February 19, 2016, Victoria, BC (ISN) – The Mount Doug Rams kept their undefeated season rolling Friday as they took the Lower Vancouver Island High School 3A Senior Boys’s High School basketball title with a 73-39 win over the Reynolds Roadrunners at Mount Douglas High School in Victoria.
The Rams Harjot Gill (14) was a tough man to stop Friday, scoring 21 points in the Rams win over Reynolds (Photo: Christian J. Stewart / ISN)
The Rams were led by big man Harjot Gill who finished the game with 21 points, many coming from easy chances in the paint where he dominated early parts of the game.
The Rams came out of the gate quickly in this one, going on a 8-0 run to start the game before Reynolds pulled it back to 8-5 midway through the quarter.
Reynolds defender Kele Antoine (11) soars high in an attempt to block a shot by the Ram’s Geavahn McNally-Hardesty (23) during first half action Friday (Photo: Christian J. Stewart / ISN)
The Rams would continue to build the lead however, finishing the quarter up 20-11 and then, after Reynolds had closed within six points, going on a 15-3 run at the end of the second quarter to finish the half up 41-23.
The Rams’ Gavin Cobb (2) soars to the hoop for two of his nine points against Reynolds on Friday (Photo: Christian J. Stewart / ISN)
The Roadrunners could never really get on track against the #1 seeded Rams, Putting up just eight points in the third quarter to fall behind 59-31 and then watching as the Rams bench scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to run the final score up to the 73-39 final.
Reynold’s defender Eli Cunningham (12) provides the bib block on this shot attempt by the Ram’s James Huang (7)(Photo: Christian J. Stewart / ISN)
In addition to Gill’s 21 points, the Rams received scoring from ten other players including Gavin Cobb and Josh Bian who both chipped in nine points, Bian’s all coming on a trio of three-pointers in the fourth quarter.
For Reynolds, Orhan Tebrizli had a 13-point day, while Owne Brown and Eli Cunningham both added nine in the losing effort.
The Rams’ Gaevan McNally-Hardesty (23) flies around Reynolds defender Kele Antoine (11) on his way to an easy layup (Photo: Christian J. Stewart / ISN)
Roadrunner Eli Cunningham (12) goes to the bucket for two of his nine points against the Rams on Friday (Photo: Christian J. Stewart / ISN)
In Friday morning’s third place game, the Stelly’s Stingers and Vic High Totems squared off, with the Totems coming away with a 61-53 victory.
The sweat drops fly as the Rams James Huang (7) and the Roadrunners’ Kele Antoine (11) collide on this play during the first half Friday (Photo: Christian J. Stewart / ISN)
The Totems were in control of this one for most of the game, holding 16-11 and 33-29 leads after the first and second quarters respectively, but the Stingers would battle hard to tie the game 35-35 midway through the third quarter.
The almost unstoppable Harjot Gill (14) powers his way past the reach of the Roadrunner’s Eli Cunningham to score two of his 21 points for the Rams (Photo: Christian J. Stewart / ISN)
The Totems then went on an 16-3 run to end the third quarter to effectively put the game away, trading baskets with the Stingers in the fourth to close out the eight-point win.
The victory puts the Totems into the Vancouver Island 3A Championships as the third seed from the South Island and marks the first time in at least 15 years that a team from Vic High has made it to that event.
In early action Friday, Vic High’s Lyndon Hamilton (23) put up 35 points to lead the Totems to a 61-53 win over Stelly’s in the third place game (Photo: Christian J. Stewart / ISN)
The Totems were led by Lyndon Hamilton who accounted for more than half of the team’s points, putting up 35 in an impressive outing. Also hitting double digits for the Totems were Chris Niketas and Rap Maquit who scored ten each.
Vic High’s Rap Maquit (19) lays in two of his 10 points against the Stingers on Friday (Photo: Christian J. Stewart / ISN)
For Stellys, Leland Savellano led the way with 15, while Ethan Tremblay and Kyle Baerg contributed 12 and ten respectively in the losing effort.
Stelly’s guard Leland Savellano scored 15 points in the losing effort to Vic High on Friday (Photo: Christian J. Stewart / ISN)
The Rams, Roadrunners and Totems will now all advance to the 3A Island finals which begin next week in Nanaimo from Feb. 25-27 at Nanaimo District High School.
