Welcome to coverage from the third and final day of the 29th annual Legal Beagle invitational senior boys basketball tournament here in PoCo.
Keep checking back here throughout the day for reports from all of the games, including our championship final between the Semiahmoo Totems and the Oak Bay Bays at 7:30 p.m.
SATURDAY
THIRD PLACE
WALNUT GROVE 75 TERRY FOX 60
PORT COQUITLAM — The Walnut Grove Gators will settle for a third-place finish in January because it sets the table for the finish they believe they are still building toward in March.
B.C.’s defending AAAA champs got 40 points from reigning provincial tourney MVP James Wood on Saturday, and it helped carry Langley’s No. 5-ranked Gators to a 15-point win over the host, unranked Ravens at the Legal Beagle Invitational.
“We’ve lost three games this year and two of them have been to Oak Bay,” said Grove head coach Reid Taylor, referencing his team’s semifinal loss on Saturday. “They are a great, great team. But we have won a lot of close games and that shows a lot of character. It’s a compliment to our players.”
Fellow starting guard Jarrett Jacobs added 19 points as Walnut Grove found a second life after a 14-0 third-quarter closing run had pulled Terry Fox to within 56-52 heading into the final frame.
The young Ravens, who lost to Semiahmoo in another of Friday’s semifinals, got 18 points from guard Jacob Mand and 15 more from forward Grady Stanyer.
David Chien, like that pair, still only in Grade 11, added a further nine points.
Yet Woods, unstoppable throughout, was the game’s highlight.
“I have never seen a player improve more, practice to practice week to week,” said Taylor. “He is special, and everyone knows it. But we see him doing stuff like diving on the floor for loose balls when we’re up by 20 and there’s 40 seconds left in the game. He is our beating heart.”
CONSOLATION ROUND
FOURTH PLACE
KITSILANO 80 KELOWNA 69
PORT COQUITLAM — Tyrone Asenoguan scored a game-high 24 points, and Tiago Costa scord 11 of his 14 points over the fourth quarter as Vancouver’s Blue Demons defeated the Owls for fourth place.
Yannick Douguet also scored 14 points for the winners.
Parker Johnstone led the Owls for the second time Saturday, scoring 20 points while Hunter Simson added 15 points and Jackson Obst 11 more.
The Blue Demons, who last week had knocked off No 1-ranked Tamanawis, led 36-34 at the half.
EIGHTH PLACE
HOLY CROSS 80 W.J. MOUAT 75 (3 OT)
PORT COQUITLAM — Gabe Takeawoa saved his best for last in one of the longest games in the 29-year history of the Legal Beagle.
Takeawoa scored eight of his 20 points in the third overtime period, lifting Surrey’s Holy Cross Crusaders to an 80-75 win over Abbotsford’s W.J. Mouat Hawks.
The game was tied 53-53 after regulation, then 62-62 and finally 70-70 after the first two five-minute overtime periods.
The contest, for eighth place, matched one other triple overtime game played at the event in the mid-1990s.
Uyi Ologhola led the winners with 23 points while Michael Risi added a further 14 points.
Harvir Garcha’s game-high 25 points paced the Hawks, while Prad Sran added 13 and Sukhi Kang 10.
Players from both teams were exhausted after having played games earlier in the day, but Mouat had come into the 2:15 p.m. contest about only two hours of rest time.
SEVENTH PLACE
SOUTH KAMLOOPS 69 VANCOUVER COLLEGE 47
PORT COQUITLAM — Ripley Martin scored a game-high 26 points and the South Kamloops Titans tightened up on defence to defeat the Vancouver College Fighting Irish 69-47 in the seventh-place game.
Martin, shelved since the start of the season with a badly sprained ankle, hunkered down in the trenches and at 6-foot-9, used his height and athleticism to dominate the proceedings.
Evan Jumaga, also returning from a lengthy stint on the injury list, added 14 points while Nick Sarai scored 19 points.
Jack Cruz-Dumont scored 17 points for the Fighting Irish.
KELOWNA 83 W.J. MOUAT 79
PORT COQUITLAM —A 15-7 game-closing run proved to be the difference for the Kelowna Owls in their narrow win over Abbotsford’s Hawks.
“We’re starting to shoot the ball a lot better,” said Owls’ head coach Harry Parmar after his charges combined to hit 13 treys on the game.
Parker Johnstone led the way, pouring home a game-high 30 points, which impressively included a fourth-quarter bounty of three triples and 5-for-5 shooting from the stripe.
Cole McAvoy added 22 points and Hunter Simson 14 points.
Harvir Garcha had 20, Prav Gill 12 and Sukhi Kang 11 for the Hawks.
Kelowna will meet Kitsilano in the consolation final at 4 p.m. while Mouat meets Holy Cross in the eighth-place game at 2:15 p.m.
KITSILANO 71 HOLY CROSS 68
PORT COQUITLAM — Need any more of an idea as to how loaded the field is here at Beagle ’18?
In a 9 a.m. consolation match-up, two teams worthy of potential B.C. tourney quarter or semi-final quality hooked up and it was Vancouver’s Blue Demons who wound up winning a tight one, scoring the final four points of the game to take a three-point decision.
Tyrone Asenoguan led Kits with 20 points, while the rest of a balanced attack for head coach Sylvester Noel included Tiago Costa with 15, Yannick Douguet with 14, and Cort Armstrong with 13.
Uyi Ologhola led the Crusaders with 19 points, Jordan Bantog added 11 and Michael Risi a further 10 points.
The win sends the Blue Demons into today’s 4 p.m. consolation final against the Kelowna Owls.
FRIDAY
SEMIFINALS
OAK BAY 99 WALNUT GROVE 74
PORT COQUITLAM — The No. 1-ranked Bays, led by the team-high 30 points of guard Caelan Scott, roleld to a 47-30 halftime lead and continued their dominance over the second half en route to a decisive win over the defending B.C. champion Gators.
Riley Cronk added 20 points, Diego Maffia 17 and Andrew Pittman 16 more in the victory which sends the Bays into the tourney’s championship final at 7:30 p.m.
James Woods, the reigning B.C. AAAA tourney MVP, scored a game-high 35 points in the loss. Alasdair Coyle added 14, Jarrett Jacobs 12 and Luke Adams 11 for the Langley squad.
SEMIAHMOO 66 TERRY FOX 50
PORT COQUITLAM — Vlad Mihaila scored 24 points, Adam Paige added 12 and Damian Calderon 10 as the Totems toppled the host Ravens by 16 points.
The Totems built a 43-22 lead at the break en route to earning a tourney-final berth.
Jacob Mand led the Ravens with 12 points, Jack Varney added 11 and Ko Takahashi nine for Terry Fox.
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