Kelowna Christian's Carter Martens (left) and Cruz Anderson guard Ron Pettigrew's Garrett Tower during B.C. 1A semifinal on Friday in Langley. (VarsityLetters.ca photo by Howard Tsumura)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Single-A: KCS Knights upset No. 1 Pettigrew, title clash next with PoCo’s Panthers

LANGLEY — It’s the Kelowna Christian Lightning against the B.C. Christian in Saturday’s Single-A championship final.

Here’s our look at Friday’s two semifinal games:

KELOWNA CHRISTIAN 75 RON PETTIGREW CHRISTIAN 72 (OT)

LANGLEY — The defending B.C. champs, a wire-to-wire No. 1 in the B.C. rankings, and the tier’s No. 1 seed, Dawson Creeks’ Ron Pettigrew Christian Lions were rightly viewed as the pre-tournament favourite.

Yet the No. 5 Kelowna Christian Knights, a team still holding three members of its own 2015 provincial title squad, made enough plays to pull out a 75-72 overtime victory.

The game featured 10 ties and 14 lead changes, and the largest lead was nine points by Kelowna Christian in the second quarter.

“It is awesome to get back,” said head coach Tim Martens. “That is a great team that we just beat so we feel fortunate.  We made a lot of mistakes, but in the end we somehow seemed to persevere and pull through.”

Carter Martens scored a game-high 30 points and also grabbed 11 rebounds, while Cruz Anderson scored 14 points, Tyler Jardine 13 and Jackson Borne 10. Jackson Kattler grabbed 12 rebounds.

Cruz, Martens and Ethan VanDyk were all members of the 2015 title-winning team.

When asked if he thinks that trio appreciates how hard it has been to get back to the title game in their senior years, Tim Martens replied: “You only opportunities like this once in a while. We’re fortunate that a lot of balls bounced our way. You just have to take advantage of the opportunities you get and be grateful for them.”

Lance Gavino led the Lions with 24 points, Garrett Tower 22 points and Mej Fernandez added 16. Francis Obeta had 10 points and 12 rebounds.

B.C CHRISTIAN 80 HERITAGE CHRISTIAN 76

LANGLEY — A few seasons back, when Gib Hinz was coaching the Saints at Kelowna’s Heritage Christian, he had a cache of rising underclassmen whose talent he was sure would eventually blossom.

After moving to the head coaching position with PoCo’s B.C. Christian Panthers he found out just how talented.

The No. 2 Panthers built a 19-point lead with 4:11 remaining, but the Saints came roaring back and pulled to within two points in the final minute.

“Two years ago, I coached them in Grade 8 and 9 and we were just getting pounded in senior (varsity) leagues,” said Hinz of the now-opposition Saints. “But I said, ‘You get yourselves to the BC’s and you can cause some trouble’. I just didn’t think it was going to be against us.”

B.C. Christian got 28 points from Cody Dowell, 27 from Harry Oghomienor and 14 from Quentin Onyemordi in win.

For the No. 3 seed  Saints, who trailed 44-34 at half, Sam Bell had 20 points and 10 rebounds, Raymond Barrett added 14, Ben Robideau 12 and Jordan Nenasheff 11.

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