LANGLEY — How’s that for a seeding committee that knows it’s stuff?
It’s a draw that may be distinctly lacking in Cinderellas, yet there is no question that the whichever teams claims the 2020 B.C. junior boys basketball title is going to be full deserving.
No., 1 seed St. Patrick’s, No. 2 seed Sir Winston Churchill, No. 3 seed Kelowna and No. 4 seed Walnut Grove have each won their first three games, setting up a dynamic Monday Final 4 card here at the LEC.
Here’s the complete results:
SUNDAY
ELITE EIGHT QUARTERFINALS (all at LEC-South Court)
TOP HALF DRAW
QUAD A
No. 1 St. Patrick’s 61 No. 8 Lambrick Park 49
LANGLEY — The No. 1 seeds are not doing anything the easy way here at the 2020 B.C. Junior Boys Basketball Championships.
Matched against a No. 8 seed in the form of Victoria’s never-say-die Lambrick Park Lions, Vancouver’s St. Patrick Celtics once again got a push.
This time around, a game-closing 7-0 run managed to do the trick as the Celtics turned a tight 54-49 contest against the capital city underdogs into a 61-49 victory.
Jornel Ursua led the way with 15 points, while Joey Panghulan added 13 points and Kaden Carrion 11.
Aiden Grew scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Lions.
QUAD B
No. 4 Walnut Grove 73 No. 12 Burnaby South 66
LANGLEY — A new champion will be crowned here at the 2020 B.C. junior boys basketball championships, and it’s going to be one of the 32-team event’s top four seeds.
That’s because Langley’s Walnut Grove Gators, the No. 4 seed, got a game-high 21-point performance from guard Kevin Kao to hold off the reigning champion and No. 12 seed Burnaby South Rebels 73-66 in the final quarterfinal clash on the Sunday slate here at the Langley Events Centre.
Burnaby South, led by the 18 points of forward Armaan Hehar, pulled to within 68-64 in the late stages of play, yet Kao was simply unstoppable, going 7-of-8 from the free throw line over the fourth quarter to sew up the win.
Kao finished 11-of-12 overall from the charity stripe on the game.
Jacob Antchak, the 6-foot-6 forward, was a disruptive inside force for the Gators and added 16 points, while Callum Neily added 10 points.
Brady Lau with 16 points and Zach Chan with 14 led the Rebels’ guard group.
Walnut Grove faces St. Pat’s in an 8 p.m. semifinal Monday, as it attempts to return to the final for the first time since 2016.
BOTTOM HALF DRAW
QUAD C
No. 2 Sir Winston Churchill 81 No. 7 Vancouver College 72
LANGLEY — How ready are Vancouver’s Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs to try to win the 2020 B.C. junior boys basketball championship title?
Judging by the way the tourney’s No. 2 overall seeds finished down the stretch, as part of an 81-72 win over the No. 7 Vancouver College Fighting Irish in a quarterfinal clash Sunday here at the Langley Events Centre, they are plenty ready.
The Bulldogs, over the final 41 seconds of play, shot a combined 11-of-12 from the free throw line, en route to the win and a date with the No. 3 seed Kelowna Owls in a Monday semifinal.
Comically, Churchill shot a combined 4-for-16 from the charity stripe in the first half and trailed 36-34 heading into the break.
“The first half was just awful but they all count, so when you hit all of those ones down the stretch, that’s huge for your team,” said SWC head coach Rob Bayne.
Churchill has lost just two games all season, and one came against Vancouver College at its own Junior Emerald in January.
“We’re a different team now than we were then, I think we’re starting to peak now,” said Bayne.
Filip Subotic hit six straight free throws down the fourth quarter stretch and finished with a team-high 22 points, while Milan John added 19, and Paolo Murphy 12.
Jack Ferguson scored a game-high 30 to lead Vancouver College, Kiyan Izadkhah scored 14.
QUAD D
No. 3 Kelowna 74. No. 6 Abbotsford 57
LANGLEY — Owl sightings in Langley will be commonplace over the next few weeks here at the Langley Events Centre.
Kelowna Secondary’s senior girls and senior boys teams, as well as its junior girls are all set to make trips here to compete in their respective top-tiered championships.
And if those teams are wondering how high the bar is being set for them, they need look no further than the play of KSS’ junior boys team.
Micah Borne and Oaklen Kowal each scored a team-high 20 points, as Kelowna found its way to Monday’s Final Four here at the 2020 B.C. Junior Boys Championships following a 74-57 win over the Abbotsford Panthers.
“Some of our guys here got knocked out in the quarterfinals of the Grade 9 B.C.’s, so I know they are excited to have made it this far,” said Kelowna head coach Mitch Goodwin. “We’ve made it this far, we might as well go for the whole thing.”
Certainly, No. 3 seed Kelowna has the horses to do it.
The rugged play of both Borne and Everett Schmuland (12 points) and the 16 of guard Maxim Storozhuk gave the Owls balance from all parts of the court, and in all manner of situations.
Kelowna’s defensive schemes, as well, have begun to come to the fore, and Goodwin was hopeful that they would continue to improve on Monday.
“In December, we had a really hard time stopping teams and I will keep giving (senior boys coaches) Harry Parmar and Brad Heuser credit,” Goodwin said. “They came out three or four weeks ago and talked about our culture and ever since, I have tried to preach the same message of getting stops and pushing the ball, and of getting to the rim and shooting threes off our stops. These guys have bought in.”
Abbotsford, foul-plagued throughout, battled valiantly but could never play its game the way it wanted to.
“It just came down to who hit some shots… but I am not too sure what was happening in that game,” Kelowna’s Goodwin admitted. “We got a little lucky and our guys finished it.”
Dilveer Randhawa scored a game-high 21 points for the Panthers, while Lockhart MacGreggor added 11 and Jahvon Maksymiw 10.
Kelowna is scheduled to face the winner of Sunday’s Vancouver College. vs. Sir Winston Churchill quarterfinal in Monday’s 6:30 p.m. semifinal.
SEMIFINALS
MONDAY
TOP HALF DRAW
8 p.m. — St. Patrick’s vs. Walnut Grove
BOTTOM HALF DRAW
6:3o p.m. — Kelowna vs. Sir Winston Churchill
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