Underdog Sparks hope to spoil Eagles repeat bid

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.

1A Tournament

It will be the defending champion and top seed St. John’s School Eagles of Vancouver taking on the underdog Similkameen Sparks, the No. 10 seed from Keremeos, in the gold-medal game at the BC School Sports 1A Boys Basketball Provincial Tournament.

Ryan Molag photos

St. John’s School 73 Immaculata 49

With their once double-digit lead trimmed to six early in the third quarter, the St. John’s School Eagles remained composed. The defending provincial champions responded with a 12–0 run to regain control and went on to defeat the Immaculata Mustangs 73–49.

The teams met in the first of two semifinal games on Centre Court at Langley Events Centre, with the Eagles securing a return trip to the championship final. Douglas Cassidy led the way with 27 points, while Kian Afshar added 18 points and 12 rebounds. St. John’s School dominated the glass with a 62–41 rebounding edge and recorded 18 assists on 34 made field goals.

Mateo Rizzo led Immaculata with 22 points.

Similkameen 69 Vernon Christian 67

The Cinderella run continues for the Similkameen Sparks. The No. 10 seed advanced to the championship game with a thrilling 69–67 victory over the No. 3 Vernon Christian Royals, defeating the No. 7, No. 2 and now No. 3 seeds on their path to the gold-medal contest.

Similkameen trailed by 13 early in the second quarter and was down 67–64 late before scoring the game’s final five points to secure the win.

Balkaran Lidhar led the Sparks with 24 points and nine rebounds, while Jasdeep Dhaliwal added 19 points and six assists. JD Vass paced the Royals with 29 points in the loss.