All 8 top seeds advance on Day 1

The Similkameen Sparks held off the Cedars Christian Eagles in overtime on day 1 of the BC School Sports 1A Boys Basketball Provincial Championships at Langley Events Centre. Ryan Molag photo

The draw held to form on the opening day of the BC School Sports 1A Boys Basketball Provincial Championships at Langley Events Centre.

Thursday (March 7) features the four quarter-final games, all of which are played in the Fieldhouse at Langley Events Centre with the following matchups: No. 2 Maple Ridge Christian vs. No. 7 Similkameen (3:30pm), No. 3 St. John’s School vs. No. 6 Gidgalang Kuuyas Naay (5:15pm), No. 4 St. Ann’s Academy facing No. 5 King David (7:00pm) and No. 1 Unity Christian against No. 8 Golden (8:45pm).

The inside-outside combo of Carson Barber and Makar Golotin proved unstoppable. Barber scored 37 while Golotin added 27 to lead the Maple Ridge Christian Hornets to an 81-61 opening-round win over the Brookes Westshore Gryphons. Tristan Boxshall (25 points) and Logan Harald (20) were the leading scorers for the Gryphons.

The Similkameen Sparks needed overtime but prevailed over the Cedars Christian Eagles after scoring the first six points of the extra period to win 68-66. The trio of Darion Eustache-Peone (19 points), Balkaran Lidhar (17) and Ethan Potash (15) led the Sparks with Ryan Crosina scoring 24 for the Eagles.

A 38-point game from Viv Anderson-Francois led the St. John’s School Eagles to a decisive 113-67 win over the McBride Mustangs. Jeremiah Alspaugh finished with 23 for the Mustangs.

It was a pair of Grade 11s leading the way for the Eagles next opponent as Greg Puterill scored 21 while Loay Almahmiid added 20 as the Gidgalang Kuuyas Naay Breakers won 83-64 over the Duncan Christian Chargers. Grayson Dunn’s 18 points were tops for the Chargers.

A monster second-half from Arel Steen helped the defending champion King David Lions win 67-43 over the Osoyoos Rattlers. Steen had 21 of his 32 points in the third and fourth quarters. Preston Pederson and Jackson Lake each scored 14 for the Rattlers.

The St. Ann’s Academy Crusaders were 84-47 winners over the Campbell River Christian Cougars. Three players reached double figures for the Crusaders with Jacob Eichenberger popping in 20, Nash Pearce adding 18 and Aidan Sethen chipping in 17. Bobby Sunner’s 16 points led the Cougars.

The closest game of the day in the 1A draw saw the No. 8 Golden Eagles edge the No. 9 École Gabrielle-Roy Phenix 53-52. Jacob Tetrault led the Eagles with 21 points while Kevin Musongela had 16 for Gabrielle-Roy.

Golden next faces the top-seed Unity Christian Flames, who won 78-37 over the Fort St. James Falcons.