Press Release:
Langley, BC – Four of the top five seeds will be joined by three teams seeded in the 20s as well as the No. 11 seed as the field had been whittled down from 32 to eight potential champions after the opening day of the 2022 Junior Boys Basketball Provincial Invitational.
Each team played twice on Saturday at Langley Events Centre with those winning twice now set to square off in their respective quarter-final matchups on Sunday (February 27).
Still standing are the No. 1 Vancouver College Fighting Irish, the No. 2 Fleetwood Park Dragons (Surrey), the No. 3 Burnaby South Rebels, the No. 5 Oak Bay Bays (Victoria), the No. 11 West Vancouver Highlanders, the No. 20 Brookswood Bobcats (Langley), the No. 23 St. Patrick Celtics (Vancouver) and the No. 25 St. Michaels University School Blue Jags (Victoria).
Sunday’s quarter-final round tips off at 11:00am with Brookswood (who are in the field as tournament co-hosts) against Oak Bay. The other game on the top half of the draw goes at 12:30pm between the Fighting Irish and the Blue Jags.
The bottom half of the draw sees Fleetwood Park go up against the 2020 champion Celtics, who had to win a wild-card qualifying game just to earn the last at-large bid to the field of 32. That game tips off at 2:00pm. And the last of the quarter-final games is at 3:30pm between Burnaby South and West Vancouver.
Sweet 16 Recaps
Brookswood earned their way to the final eight by edging Vancouver’s Lord Byng Grey Ghosts 50-48 behind a 27-point effort from Logan Stewart. The Bobcats were down 23-12 after one quarter but used a strong defence in the second quarter the held the Grey Ghosts to five points, cutting the lead to 28-23. Lord Byng still led by two with a quarter to play before Brookswood finally pulled ahead in the fourth quarter. Jeffery Brown scored 19 for Lord Byng.
Oak Bay scored a 68-44 win over Abbotsford’s Rick Hansen Hurricanes. The Breakers led by a basket after eight minutes before the shut the Hurricanes down in the second quarter, holding Hansen to five points for a 36-25 lead at the half. Toren Franklin had 18 points while Finnley Lillis scored 16 to lead the Breakers. Jovan Kooner had 15 for the Hurricanes.
The Irish held their two opponents on Saturday to a combined 58 points while they scored 115 in the opener and then followed that up with a 78-32 win over Kelowna’s Rutland Voodoos. Aidan Lear led Vancouver College with 20 points while Finn Teasdale added 18. Eli Ball was the top scorer for the Voodoos with 13 points.
The No. 25 Blue Jags took care of the No. 8 Semiahmoo Totems 61-58 in their opener and then won an all-Victoria matchup, rallying from a halftime deficit to beat the No. 9 Claremont Spartans 46-39. Kian Colgate led the Blue Jags with 23 points. J Helman led the Spartans with a dozen points.
The Celtics won 76-71 over No. 10 Handsworth (North Vancouver) in the first game and followed that with a 64-43 win over No. 7 Kelowna. Jovin Sunner led the Celtics with 23 points while Kelowna’s Zach Maylor scored 15 points.
Fleetwood Park survived the closest of the Sweet 16 matchups as they edged Langley’s Walnut Grove Gators 52-51 after the Gators rally came up short, missing a shot at the buzzer. Walnut Grove was down a dozen points with eight minutes to play.
Rohan Dhanoa and Izaec Oppal led the Dragons with 14 points apiece while Walnut Grove’s Joshua Owen-Merriott led all scorers with 18. The Dragons beat Summerland 65-45 in their opening round game.
West Vancouver edged the Terry Fox Ravens (Port Coquitlam) 57-52 in the first game and then played another tight contest later in the day, holding off Victoria’s Spectrum Thunder 60-52. The Thunder had knocked off the No. 6 M.E.I. Eagles (Abbotsford) 68-64.
Against the Thunder, Marko Slavkovic led the team with 19 points while Spectrum’s Justin Hinrichsen scored 14.
Their next opponent is Burnaby South after the Rebels won 61-33 over Langley’s R.E. Mountain Eagles and 56-44 over Surrey’s Tamanawis Wildcats.
Against the Wildcats, the Rebels rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit as they held the Wildcats to 14 points over the final 16 minutes. Lordrikk Gutierrez scored 18 for Burnaby South while Tamanawis’ Gursewak Maan had 11 to lead the Wildcats.
Notes:
All fans 12 years and older must also show proof of double vaccination and all spectators ages five and up are required to wear a mask when inside the facility. The games are also available to stream via pay-per-view at tfsetv.ca.
For tournament schedule and scoresheets from each of the games, please click here.
Round of 32 scores:
St. Patrick 76 Handsworth 71
Claremont 56 Sa-Hali 45
Lord Byng 68 Caledonia 42
Rick Hansen 49 King George 38
Vancouver College 115 Salmo 26
St. Michaels University School 61 Semiahmoo 58
Brookswood 62 Duchess Park 43
Oak Bay 60 Pacific Academy 44
Tamanawis 79 St. Thomas More Collegiate 40
Rutland 58 Nanaimo District 46
Walnut Grove 70 Lord Tweedsmuir 36
West Vancouver 57 Terry Fox 52
Burnaby South 61 R.E. Mountain 33
Kelowna 67 Prince George 43
Fleetwood Park 65 Summerland 45
Spectrum 68 M.E.I. 64
Day 1 Consolation Bracket scores:
Semiahmoo 78 Sa-Hali 54
King George 57 Pacific Academy 49
Duchess Park 48 Caledonia 35
Nanaimo District 81 Salmo 48
St. Thomas More Collegiate 60 R.E. Mountain 49
M.E.I. 63 Terry Fox 43
Lord Tweedsmuir 68 Summerland 50
Handsworth 73 Prince George 32
For more information:
Gary Ahuja, Langley Events Centre, 604.613.5242 (cell) 604.455.8830 (office) or email.