NO. 2 COLLINGWOOD 90 NO. 11 KALAMALKA 55
By IAN FRENCH (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY — Kalamalka made it to the Final Four, holding underdog status. After earning an upset win over the sixth seed on opening day action, the 11th-ranked Lakers found themselves just one win away from reaching the final of the B.C. senior boys Double-A provincial championship. However, their semifinal matchup was against a deep, second-ranked Collingwood Cavaliers team that played fast and rarely made mistakes. It was a tall order, and they battled out of the gate, but the early scoring from Cavs’ senior guards Elliot McNeil and Peter Huang proved to be too much as Collingwood held strong and cruised to a commanding 90-55 win.
Senior Centre Tylen Lewis led all Lakers scorers with 16 points to go alongside his eight rebounds and three steals. For the Cavaliers, McNeil posted a game-high 25 points and racked up a whopping eight steals. While Huang chipped in with 18 points, nine of which came from beyond the arc.
“We’re a well-rounded team, and we don’t know who’s going to step up on what day. And today, Peter was just feeling it,” began Cavaliers head coach Andy Wong on Huang’s timely shot-making. “We’re the type of team that, when we feel confident, our level of play really rises up. Peter was feeling it, he was catching a rhythm and was able to hit the shots today.”
Controlling the pace was clearly the focus for both teams as they came out of the gate flying, resulting in numerous defensive stops early. As the clock ticked down, the Cavaliers began to pile on scores by turning defence into offence. Cavaliers senior forward Jake McAdam rose in the paint and connected on an emphatic swat on one end that turned into an easy lay-in for McNeil on the other. McNeil then followed with another transition lay-up – tallying four of his 10 first-quarter points – to cap off a 13-2 run out of the gate.
The Lakers fought back and pieced together a couple of baskets in response, but the Cavaliers’ defence stood tall. They continued to clog passing lanes to rack up steals, but they weren’t limited to layups in transition. As a turnover led the Cavaliers to race up the court, Huang received a pass beyond the arc and knocked down a no-hesitation three to extend their lead to 18-6. On the following possession, senior forward Daniel Pan fed Huang in the same spot on the wing, who drained yet another long ball to add to his team’s cushion, eventually ending the first quarter up 31-12.
Coming into the second, the Lakers upped their intensity on defence, beginning with a ferocious block that Lakers’ Clerke pressed up against the glass. A few possessions later, he kicked it to junior guard Cruz Mclean in the corner, who drained a three-pointer over the outstretched fingertips of a closing-out defender. However, as Kalamalka began to find holes in the defence, Collingwood started firing back on offence. Highlighted by a catch-and-shoot three from Cavs’ junior guard Lucas Di Marco, and a handful of inside baskets from McNeil in the final minutes, they closed out the half up 53-25.
As the second half began, Kalamalka fought back. Despite facing a swarm of coverage, Lakers’ Lewis worked his way to the elbow before turning and firing a mid-range jumper over a pair of defenders. Yet, as they had proven throughout the night, the Cavaliers had an answer. On the other end, Huang was ready in the corner and knocked down a wide-open three-pointer. From here, the Lakers continued to fight and stay afloat but couldn’t overcome the Cavaliers’ defence. On top of their consistent offence, Collingwood continued to rack up steals while hauling in countless rebounds, leading them to a decisive 90-55 win.
“We have pretty good gameplans where we’ve got set rules on what we want to do, and I’m really proud of how the guys have executed those gameplans”, mused Cav’s coach Wong. “The last couple of games, we knew we wanted to play really fast. We talked about how Kalamalka is a very talented team. They’ve got superstars, but we wanted to play at a pace that, maybe, they haven’t seen this year. That was one of our intentional goals.”
With the win, the Collingwood Cavaliers will face the winner between the top-ranked Notre Dame Jugglers and the fourth-seeded King George Dragons in the provincial championship. Tipoff for the final game is set for 2:45 p.m. PT on March 7th at the Langley Event Centre’s Arena Bowl.
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