Late-game heroics clinches championship title for Knights

The St. Thomas More Collegiate Knights are the 2023 Junior Boys Basketball Provincial Invitational Tournament champions. photo courtesy of Paul Yates Vancouver Sports Pictures

It is a shot every kid has grown up practicing: tie game, time winding down and the championship on the line. And that is the exact situation Zeru Abera encountered on Tuesday night.

With the score tied at 42, Abera found the ball in his hands and there was little doubt what he was going to do. Abera took the inbounds pass near centre, dribbling his way out of the double team pressure from the Tamanawis Wildcats. The play ended with him driving into traffic and then pulling up near the free throw line and sunk the game-winning shot as the St. Thomas More Collegiate Knights won 44-42 to capture the 2023 Junior Boys Basketball Provincial Invitational Tournament championship title.

The game was played in front of a raucous standing-room only crowd of 1,100 at Langley Events Centre.

“That was pretty sweet. Definitely the biggest shot I have ever hit,” he said as the Knights fans celebrated the Burnaby school’s first provincial title since 1988.

Abera finished with 22 points – exactly half his team’s total – and to no one’s surprise was chosen as the Most Valuable Player.

“That was just the best player on the floor being the best player, that’s it,” said St. Thomas More Collegiate head coach Corbin Castres.

The Knights led for the majority of the game, trailing just once – 17-15 early in the second quarter – and leading by 16 at one point in the second half. But the Wildcats would come roaring back with an 18-2 run to tie the game at 39.

Jacob Oreta put the Knights back ahead with a 3-pointer with 1:24 to go, but that was quickly answered back by Tamanawis’ Sunny Dhami, setting the stage for Abera’s heroics as Tamanawis turned the ball over on their inbounds attempt.

“We saw a hungry group. We lost to this Tamanawis team last year in the first round and that motivated us the entire season,” Castres said on what he saw on the first day of practice. He was referencing his team’s 39-point loss to the Wildcats.

The Knights entered the 32-team tournament as the No. 11 seed and beat the No. 6, No. 3., No. 7 and finally No. 1 seeds in their last four games.

“Quite honestly, we felt we could have been a higher seed, and our boys believed that from the very beginning that we could win this championship and they never wavered,” he said. “All credit to them, they prepared really well, and I am so proud of them. This is just an incredible feeling.”

Shane Deza finished with a dozen points in the win while Tray Belanger led the Wildcats with 20, the only Tamanawis player to finish in double digits.

Deza, Belanger and Dhami were all selected First Team All-Stars alongside Joseph Thompson (Heritage Woods) and Logan Stewart (Brookswood).

Oreta, Jayden Kenyon (Brookswood), Afu Bullock (Heritage Woods), Llorikk Gutierrez (Burnaby South) and Riley Santa Juana (St. Patrick) were chosen Second Team All-Stars.

The Knights’ Isaac Jimenez was presented the Most Outstanding Defensive Player

In the third-place game, it was the Heritage Woods Kodiaks with the 64-58 win over the Brookwood Bobcats.

For the full results, game sheets or more information, please visit http://www.bchighschoolbasketballchampionships.com/jrboys/

Day 4 Scores

Smithers 43 Correlieu 36

LV Rogers 49 R.E. Mountain 45

Rutland 77 Abbotsford Senior 53

Oak Bay 54 Lord Byng 43

Pacific Academy 64 Summerland 44

Centennial 52 Magee 46

St. Michaels University School 49 Vernon 44

Yale 55 Dover Bay 45

Vancouver College 86 Lambrick Park 53

Burnaby Mountain 63 Rick Hansen 55

Sullivan Heights 61

Burnaby South 62 St. Patrick 58

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