Eagles soar to first title in program history

To be the best, you must beat the best and the St. John’s School Eagles did just that on Saturday afternoon.

Facing the powerhouse program that is the Unity Christian Flames – the Chilliwack school had won 3 of the past 4 BC School Sports 1A Boys Basketball Provincial Tournament championships – the Vancouver school etched their names in the history books, capturing their first title in program history with a come-from-behind 87-82 win.

The game was played at Langley Events Centre to cap off the four-day championships featuring 16 teams from across the province.

The Eagles – the No. 1 seed – trailed for all but 3:05 of that contest and were down by eight points at 78-70 in the fourth quarter. But the third-ranked Flames went cold and were outscored 17-4 down the stretch.

Douglas Cassidy earned the Championship Player of the Game after coming up with a pair of clutch 3-pointers in the final quarter while Viv Anderson-Francois scored 12 and Kian Afshar added 10 in the fourth as well.

Anderson-Francois – who was named Most Valuable Player – finished one assist shy of a triple-double with 30 points, 22 rebounds and nine assists. Afshar finished with 17.

Unity Christian had three players with 20+ points, led by Matthias Hulka’s 23 while Aaron Flokstra had 21 points and 11 rebounds and Caleb Friesen finished with 20 points, five rebounds, five assists and seven steals.

In the third-place game, the Haida Gwaii Breakers were 99-67 winners over the Southpointe Academy Titans.

Most Valuable Player
Viv Anderson-Francois, St. John’s School

Best Defensive Player
Loay Almahamid, Haida Gwaii

Championship Player of the Game
Douglas Cassidy, St. John’s School

Most Sportsmanlike Team
Northside Christian Northstars

Most Inspirational Team
Haida Gwaii Breakers

Most Inspirational Player
Douglas Cassidy, St. John’s School

First Team All-Stars

• Matthew Hulka, Unity Christian
• Caleb Friesen, Unity Christian
• Aaron Flokstra, Unity Christian
• Calvin Collison, Haida Gwaii
• Ciro Bertolutti, Aberdeen Hall

Second Team All-Stars

• Kian Afshar, St. John’s School
• Logan Jones, Haida Gwaii
• Lucas Pawlowski, St. John’s School
• Devin Khunkhun, Southpointe Academy
• Naden Brown-Sjolund, Haida Gwaii