Pair of top seeds go down in quarter-final round

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Walnut Grove coaches Reid Taylor and Aly Nuruddin celebrate after their team’s dramatic 94-92 overtime victory over the No. 1 seed St. George’s School Saints in quarter-final action at the 2022 BC School Sports 4A Boys Basketball Provincial Tournament. Gary Ahuja Langley Events Centre photos

In a 10-minute span, two No. 1 seeds saw their championship aspirations go down to a pair of underdogs on day two of the 2022 BC School Sports Boys Basketball Provincial Championships at Langley Events Centre.

Both Langley’s Walnut Grove Gators (4A) and Vancouver’s West Point Grey Academy Wolves (2A) took down the top seeds in their respective tiers with stunning quarter-final wins on Thursday.

Walnut Grove (No. 8) next faces Burnaby South (No. 5) in one 4A semi-final while the other has No. 3 Vancouver College and No. 7 Semiahmoo Thunderbirds battling for a berth in Saturday’s championship game.

The Gators needed overtime to knock off No. 1 St. George’s School Saints 94-92 while Burnaby South edged the No. 4 Kelowna Owls 76-67. The Thunderbirds were also upset winners on day two, taking out No. 2 Centennial 86-73 while the Vancouver Fighting Irish won 94-79 over the No. 11 Fleetwood Park Dragons.

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The 3A Tournament has stayed to form as the top four seeds will face off in their respective semi-final games with the No. 1 St. Patrick Celtics (Vancouver) against Richmond’s A.R. MacNeill, the No. 4 seed; while the No. 2 Elgin Park Orcas (Surrey) face Prince George’s Duchess Park Condors, the third seed.

 

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The Condors were 81-58 winners over the Byrne Creek Bulldogs (Burnaby) and their next opponent, the Orcas, won 88-67 over the No. 10 St. Thomas More Collegiate Knights. The Celtics won 74-49 over the No. 9 Princess Margaret Lions from Surrey and the Ravens beat Abbotsford’s M.E.I. Eagles 93-68. The Eagles came in as the 12-seed.

With the 2A Tournament, one semi-final will be an all-Vancouver Island affair between No. 2 Lambrick Park Lions (Victoria) and No. 3 Brentwood College (Mill Bay) while the other has the No. 4 Westsyde Whundas (Kamloops) and the No. 9 West Point Grey Academy Wolves.

The Wolves were upset winners for a second-straight day, winning a defensive battle 45-40 over the No. 1 King George Dragons (Vancouver) and next face the Whundas following the Kamloops school’s 64-41 win over Surrey’s Southridge Storm in the four-five matchup. The bottom half of the draw is a rematch of the Vancouver Island Zone final with the No. 2 Lambrick Park Lions and No. 3 Brentwood College. The Lions won 86-57 over North Vancouver’s Windsor Dukes and Brentwood College score the 72-48 win over another Surrey squad, the Pacific Academy Breakers.

And the 1A Tournament saw all four top seeds advance from the quarter-final round and the 2020 defending champion and top-seed Unity Christian Flames (Chilliwack) preparing to face the No. 4 Fernie Falcons and the No. 2 seed Glenlyon Norfolk Gryphons (Victoria) against the third-seed Cedars Christian Eagles (Prince George). 

The semi-final between Unity Christian and Fernie could be a high scoring affair as both teams are coming off dominant offensive games with Unity Christian winning 96-47 over No. 8 Bulkley Valley Gryphons (Smithers) while Fernie was a 90-39 winner against No. 5 Kelowna Christian. The Gryphons posted a 77-44 win over the No. 10 Barriere Cougars and Cedars Christian won 91-82 over the 11-th seed Aberdeen Hall Gryphons.

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The 1A Tournament and 2A Tournament semi-final games are set for 3:30pm and 5:15pm (1A) and 7:00pm and 8:45pm (2A) with all four games on Centre Court, while the 3A Tournament and 4A Tournament semi-final games are also at those same times (with 3A playing the first two) but on the Arena Floor.

4A Tournament Scores

Claremont 88 Enver Creek 56

Terry Fox 57 Burnaby Mountain 50

Abbotsford Senior 84 Holy Cross 75

Oak Bay 89 North Peace 55

3A Tournament Scores

Okanagan Mission 83 Sir Charles Tupper 71

G.W. Graham 79 L.V. Rogers 43

Gladstone 86 St. Michaels University School 69

Mark R. Isfeld 72 Timberline 63

2A Tournament Scores

Summerland 78 J.L. Crowe 50

Langley Christian 68 Samuel Roberts Technical 58

Charles Hays 68 Southern Okanagan 46

Nechako Valley 73 Hugh Boyd 53

1A Tournament Scores

King David 76 Khalsa School 44

Meadowridge 53 Northside Christian 34

Fort St. James 83 Pemberton 73

Nanaimo Christian 84 Brookes Westshore 70

For full tournament schedule, daily results and score sheets, visit www.bchighschoolbasketballchampionships.com

All fans 12 years and older must also show proof of double vaccination. The games are also available to stream via pay-per-view at tfsetv.ca.

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