Ravens top Celtics in thrilling championship final

Unranked all season long, the Terry Fox Ravens end it as number one.

On Tuesday night in front of a sold-out, frenzied crowd at Langley Events Centre, the Ravens were crowned champions, defeating the St. Patrick Celtics 59-55 to win the 2024 Junior Boys Basketball Invitational Tournament title.

The 32-team, four-day tournament was co-hosted by Brookswood Secondary and R.E. Mountain Secondary and ran from Feb. 24-27.

After going 0-fer from beyond the arc in their semi-final victory on Monday, head coach Rich Chambers knew that had to change if they wanted any chance of beating a tough Celtics squad.

“We finally hit some shots, I knew we couldn’t beat these guys unless we made some shots and the kids made some shots,” the long-time coach said of his Ravens squad, which went from failing to make a single three-point attempt, to 24 hours later nailing eight triples.

Korbin Longuist had half those three-pointers, finishing with 14 points, second on the team to Jayson Ikani – who was named both Championship Player of the Game and Most Valuable Player of the tournament – as the Grade 9 forward finished with a game-high 27 points. He had 11 in the fourth quarter alone, including a nearly perfect 7-for-8 from the line.

The game did not begin well for Terry Fox as St. Patrick jumped out to a 6-0 lead behind a pair of three-pointers. The Celtics led for much of the half and were up 22-18 at the break.

But the fifth-seeded Ravens – who already beat the fourth seed L.A. Matheson Mustangs in the quarter-final round and then the top seed Oak Bay Bays in the semi-final game, seized control with a dominant third quarter, coming out of the locker room with an 18-4 run against the third-seed Celtics.

It set up a fantastic fourth quarter where the teams traded the lead on four separate occasions. Trailing by a point, the Ravens went on a 10-3 and that six-point cushion was too much for the Celtics to overcome.

St. Patrick’s Riley Santa Juana nearly willed his team to victory, as the Celtics’ guard scored 18 in the fourth quarter alone and finished with a game-high 27 points. Jerico Labrador was next up for the Celtics with 10 points.

The championship is the first for the Terry Fox program since winning it all back in 2002, and Chambers admitted had you asked him on that first day what he thought his team’s chances were of being the last one standing, and he would have said impossible just because of the fact the squad was so young, starting a trio of Grade 9s.

But what followed was a 33-3 season – and despite being unranked the entirety of the season and under the radar of everyone – and a championship banner.

Awards

While Ikani was the MVP, Pacific Academy’s Adriel Bouguep was selected the Best Defensive Player.

Marvin Reyes (Terry Fox), Riley Santa Juana (St. Patrick), Marcus Kao (Oak Bay), Smeer Sandhar (Enver Creek) and Nathan Chen (Vancouver College) were First Team All-Stars, while Jaden Quan (St. Patrick), Olin Lakos (Oak Bay), Kaman Kaila (New Westminster), Harry Bell (Collingwood) and Judah Ashbee (Pacific Academy) were Second Team All-Stars.

The Oak Bay Bays defeated Vancouver College 59-48 in the bronze-medal game and the Rutland Voodoos were selected the Most Sportsmanlike Team.

For complete scores and news, click here or visit www.bchighschoolbasketballchampionships.com/jrboys.

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