LANGLEY — It had previously been information for Walnut Grove insiders-only, but given the drama of the moment, Reid Taylor couldn’t hold back.
“What we say on this team is 95 and 5,” began Taylor in the moments after his senior guard James Woods grabbed an opening-round match-up here at the 2018 B.C. senior boys AAAA championships by the scruff of its neck and tore it from the grasp of Vancouver’s St. George’s Saints.
“Ninety-five per cent of the time, we have to be running as much structure and offence as possible,” Taylor continued after his No. 10-seeded Gators beat the No. 7 Saints 89-76. “And the other five per cent, we just want James to do his thing.”
His thing?
How about 44 points? How about 21 in the fourth quarter? And how about his final 12 over a span of 1:49 in the dying stages of play.
Concluded Taylor: “That was a five-percent game. Just get out of his way and let him do his thing. That’s why he was the MVP (last season). No coaching involved with that one. Just give him the ball and let him do his thing.”
Woods is so humble, however, that he won’t get too effusive about his performances.
“Obviously I am looking for it,” he said when asked how much he relishes having the ball in his hands with the game on the line. “I have a ton of trust in my teammates and they in me. But some of those shots were lucky.”
Ah, no. That’s Woods being his humble self.
Back-to-back treys book-ended three made free throws by St. George’s Jarric Palma to put the Gators on top 80-76 with 2:16 remaining.
With 1:49 left he completed a three-point play from the free throw, then hit another trey for an 86-76 lead with 1:12 left.
The Gators advance to face the winner of Wednesday’s 6:45 p.m. game between Tamanawis and North Peace in a quarterfinal game Thursday tipping off at 6:45 p.m.
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