No. 1 Celtics look to slow No. 2 Mustangs in 3A Final

The road to a provincial title comes to an end on Saturday.

After three days of competition, the stage is set for the championship finals at the BC School Sports Boys Basketball Provincial Championships at Langley Events Centre. Across four tiers — 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A — the final two teams in each division will battle for provincial gold.

The championship games feature all four No. 1 seeds, three No. 2 seeds, and one No. 10 seed.

Saturday’s championship schedule (all games on Ken Winslade Court inside the Arena Bowl at Langley Events Centre.

12:30pm:       1A – St. John’s School Eagles (#1, Vancouver) vs. Similkameen Sparks (#10, Keremeos)

2:45pm:          2A – Notre Dame Jugglers (#1, Vancouver) vs. Collingwood Cavaliers (#2, West Vancouver)

5:15pm:          3A – St. Patrick Celtics (#1, Vancouver) vs. L.A. Matheson Mustangs (#2, Surrey)

7:45pm:          4A – Dover Bay Dolphins (#1, Nanaimo) vs. Vancouver College Fighting Irish (#2)

Tickets are available for purchase and every game of all four championships is also available to stream through pay-per-view at TFSETV.ca. Daily schedules, scores and news can also be found at www.bchighschoolbasketballchampionships.com.

3A Tournament

The top two seeds are set to clash in the championship game for the BC School Sports 3A Boys Basketball Provincial Tournament.

Ryan Molag photos

St. Patrick 122 Lambrick Park 82

For the second time in three games, the St. Patrick Celtics topped the century mark, and Friday’s offensive explosion sent the top-seeded Celtics into the championship final.

St. Patrick’s was red-hot from beyond the arc, knocking down 14 of 29 three-point attempts (48 per cent) and finishing the game shooting 67.6 per cent from the field.

The Celtics never trailed, erupting for 70 first-half points on their way to a 122–82 semifinal win over the Lambrick Park Lions. Three St. Patrick’s players scored more than 20 points, led by Jemuel Castro’s 26, while Riley Santa Juana and Dhyne Cotin added 24 apiece. Santa Juana also filled the stat sheet with 11 rebounds, seven assists and seven steals.

Lambrick Park’s Blake Pye led all scorers with 35 points.

L.A. Matheson 85 Enver Creek 78

The L.A. Matheson Mustangs are making the most of their first appearance at the provincial championships.

The Mustangs built a lead of as many as 19 points and held off a furious fourth-quarter push to defeat the Enver Creek Cougars 85–78 in an all-Surrey semifinal. Enver Creek cut the deficit to five late, but Matheson closed the door to secure the victory.

Four Mustangs finished in double figures, led by 22 points from Jason Hothi, while Damien Onokpite added 19. Smeer Sandhu paced the Cougars with 27 points, with Sahaj Hans contributing 24.