Welcome to the first of three days here from the Langley Events Centre any TBI 2018.
We’re complete for the night with reports on all eight games!
TOP SIDE DRAW
QUADRANT A
BURNABY SOUTH 85 CENTENNIAL 69
LANGLEY — The Centennial Centaurs proved they are one of the province’s up-and-coming senior varsity teams, throwing a bit of a second half scare into the defending champs.
But even when they weren’t up to what head coach Mike Bell felt was their best, the No. 1-ranked AAAA Burnaby South Rebels are a tough nut to crack.
Forward Sasha Vujisic scored a team-high 22 points, while Jiordano Khan added 17 as the Rebels advanced to the quarterfinals with a late surge to beat Coquitlam’s Centaurs.
Guards Kyle Kirmaci and Baltej Sohal added 14 each for the winners while post Aidan Wilson added 11 in the win.
“They are very good, just young, so they are looking to put some games together,” said Burnaby South head coach Mike Bell of the Centaurs. “They brought their ‘A’ game and we probably brought our F game.”
Yet the same game can mean something completely different to the other team and that was definitely the case with Centennial.
The Centaurs hung tough early but trailed by 13 points at the half, 42-29, yet they never let themselves lose focus, continually taking their runs at the Rebels.
Centennial pulled to within 68-63 with 6:25 left in the fourth quarter, but simply had nothing left the rest of the way, outscored 16-6 down the stretch en route to a 16-point loss.
Nevertheless, Centaurs’ head coach Rob Sollero could not have been prouder.
“We worked so hard to get it to six but we worked so hard that we just ran out of gas,” admitted Sollero, who nonetheless got 41-point performance from 6-foot-7 Grade 11 post Dominic Parolin, as well as 15 points from Grade 11 guard Leif Skelding.
Parolin had 16 points in the first half, then added 25 in second, including the lay-in which pulled his team to within five.
“Our boys were disappointed they lost,” added Sollero. “They competed hard. Early in the season you want these kinds of games. We saw their level of compete and this is all a part of the learning process.”
OAK BAY 91 G.W. GRAHAM 76
LANGLEY — Diego Maffia scored 22 of his game-high 33 points over the second half as the Quad A No. 8 Oak Bay Bays of Victoria set up a quarterfinal date Friday against the Burnaby South Rebels with a convincing win over Triple A No. 2-ranked G.W. Graham of Chilliwack.
In a victory the previous day over Walnut Grove, Maffia scored 63 points.
Ewan Mackenzie added 16 points and Jordane Burrke another 13 for the Bays who had finished the night sinking 15 triples.
Geevon Janday led the Grizzlies with 24 points while Cole Wicker added 18 points and Cairo Almarez 11.
QUADRANT B
TERRY FOX 92 W.J. MOUAT 70
LANGLEY — Jacob Mand loves his Terry Fox Ravens, and if you watched them open play at the 2018 TBI Thursday, it was easy to understand why.
Whether in transition, in the half court, or off of their own defensive intensity, the Quad A No. 2-ranked Ravens were able to withstand a pair of quality runs from Abbotsford’s Hawks and advance to the quarterfinals for a second straight year.
“I love the way we run, I like the way we share the ball and I like the way we all bond off the court because that allows us to trust each other on the court,” said Mand, who scored 13 points in both the first and second quarters, staking Fox to a 43-29 halftime lead. He finished with a game-high 37 points.
The Ravens built their lead to 61-38 early in the third quarter before Mouat’s Manvir Johal put his team on his back and rallied them to within 66-53.
Johal scored a team-high 26 but that is as close at Mouat would get. Prab Sran and Gershaun Sarowa each scored 15 for Mouat.
Grady Stanyer scored 19 points, Cam Slaymaker 14 and David Chien 13 in the win for the Ravens.
BYRNE CREEK 80 SIR CHARLES TUPPER 65
LANGLEY — It’s the year Bithow Wan and Sufi Ahmed have been waiting for, and now that they’ve arrived as seniors, the Bulldogs’ dynamic duo are playing the part to perfection.
Guard-forward Wan scored 41 points and point guard Ahmed scored 21 more as Byrne Creek topped Sir Charles Tupper in a match-up of top-four AAA teams and a rematch of last season’s B.C. quarterfinals.
“Bithow, it’s his senior year and his fourth crack at senior varsity basketball,” said Dhillon, “and so far he’s been a very good leader.”
Ahmed’s playmaking and scoring contributions also caught Dhillon’s eye.
“Sufi is our heart and soul,” the head coach said. “He leads by example.”
Wan sizzled throughout, including late when his trey with 3:10 left made it 76-60.
Tupper was playing without top guard Gaurab Acharya. They were led by the 21 points of post Matthew Dunkerley. Simon Crossfield scored 12 points while Norben Bulosan added 10.
Byrne Creek will face Terry Fox in an 8:45 a.m. semifinal Friday.
BOTTOM HALF DRAW
QUADRANT C
HOLY CROSS 94 RICK HANSEN 80
LANGLEY — Brent Padilla and the Holy Cross Crusaders came through when it mattered most.
The Crusaders found themselves locked in a 21-21 deadlock after the first quarter but gradually gained the separation they needed to pull away from Abbotsford’s Rick Hansen Hurricanes.
Padilla topped a balanced attack with 29 points, Kyle Tejada added 10 and Michael Risi eight, the latter scoring all of his points in the third quarter.
Harjot Dhaliwal with 24 points and Gurkaran Mangat with 23 led the ‘Canes.
The victory pushes Holy Cross into a Friday morning quarterfinal against the winner of Kelowna vs. McMath.
KELOWNA 100 R.A. MCMATH 54
LANGLEY — The Kelowna Owls are headed for a quarter-final matchup at 8:45 a.m. against the Holy Cross Crusaders.
Malcom Greggor led five Owls in double figures with 22 points as Kelowna rolled past Richmond’s R.A. McMath Wildcats.
“We’re getting where we need to go,” said Kelowna head coach Harry Parmar.
Parker Johnstone added 18 points in the win while Hunter Simson score 14 points.
Jonathon Haughton and Ajay Gill each scored 10 points.
For the Wildcats, who trailed 49-29 at the half, were led by the 14 points of Natrone Gonzales. Rohan Balaggan added 13 while Travis Hamberger scored eight.
QUADRANT D
NORTH DELTA 79 BELMONT 75
LANGLEY — In the midst of putting on yet another performance worthy of Mandrake the Magician, North Delta Huskies’ senior do-it-all guard Suraj Gahir made a brief pit-stop on the bench during the fourth quarter of Thursday’s TBI opening-round clash with Victoria’s plucky Belmont Bulldogs.
Truth be told, Gahir was getting treatment for a knock he took just under the ear, but if you were looking to put a mystical spin on it all, you might just tell yourself that after he exhausted one entire bag full of magic tricks, he was simply getting extra rations for the fourth-quarter stretch.
After trailing virtually the entire game, the Triple A No. 1-ranked Huskies closed the game on a 25-10 run in which Gahir scored 15 of those points, including a pair of back-to-back buckets over the final minute which brought North Delta all the way back from an 11-point deficit earlier in the quarter.
“He’s a magician,” said Huskies’ head coach Jesse Hundal. “I honestly believe with what he does at both ends of the floor, that he is the best player in the province.”
With 54.3 seconds left, Gahir grabbed back-to-back offensive rebounds, the second of which he converted into a lay-in which pulled the Dawgs to within 75-74.
Then, with 41.4 seconds left, he executed a 180-degree spin move at the elbow, knocking down a shot to give the Huskies the lead at 76-75.
Gahir finished with a game-high 29 points and the Huskies never looked back over the dying stages, point guard Arun Atker hitting three of four free throws to finish with 15 points, a total matched by swing guard Jag Johal.
“We don’t quit and we’ve been through this before, like trailing Rick Hansen by 20 in the Fraser Valley final last season,” said Hundal. “The guys believe in each other. But we weren’t dialled in like we needed to be early.”
Belmont deserved huge kudos for their gutsy effort.
Both of the team’s point guards — senior Daunte Nelson and Grade 11 Riley Merryweather — were relegated to sick bay with injuries and did not travel to Langley.
Nonetheless, they rained triples, scored a ton of paint points and were achingly close to pulling off the victory.
For Belmont, whose largest lead of the game was 13 points in the first half, Markus Modrovic led the way with 22 points. Hunter Thompson added 18, Danny Song 16 and Max Leeder 11.
LORD TWEEDSMUIR 78 HERITAGE WOODS 60
LANGLEY — The Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers used a 13-0 run early in the third quarter to stretch a 48-33 lead over Port Moody’s Heritage Woods Kodiaks into a 61-33 advantage en route to a comfortable victory.
Austin Swedish’s game-high 20 points led the winners, while Arjun Samra added 16 points and Elijah Davidson 12 more.
The Panthers advance to a 10:30 a.m. quarterfinal Friday against the North Delta vs. Belmont winner.
Cartus Ko and Christopher Moon scored 12 apiece to lead the Kodiaks while Morgan Liski added 11.
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