It was billed as a close encounter for the third time and that鈥檚 exactly how it played out in front of a packed Reynolds gym on Friday night.
The Claremont Spartans drained the opening bucket on a short jumper from Mason Loewen, but did not see the lead again until there were seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter of their South Island triple-A senior boy鈥檚 basketball semifinal against the Belmont Bulldogs.
Claremont battled back for a 72-65 win that advances the Spartans to tonight鈥檚 final at 8 p.m. at Reynolds. Claremont will face Oak Bay, which defeated Mount Douglas 76聽63 in the other semi.
鈥淵ou always want to be in the city final,鈥� said elated Spartans coach Davey Sundher. 鈥淧layoff games 鈥� you always want to win. You always want to move on to the next round. You always want to be city champions and you always want that No. 1 seeding for the Islands, and that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e going for.鈥�
Claremont trailed 20-10 after the first quarter and 31-30 at the half.
The Spartans finally tied it at 34-34 almost midway through the third, but were down 49-43 heading into the final quarter.
Alex Jordache had 19 points for Claremont and Luke Collumbin had 12, but nine of his came in the pivotal fourth, including a clutch three-pointer to make it 68-62 with 50 seconds left.
Owen Vaags had 20 for Belmont and Erik Spaven added 18.
At the triple-A senior girl鈥檚 Island Championship in Nanaimo, Claremont also advanced to the final with an 88-59 victory over Vanier. Oak Bay faced Dover Bay in the late game.
Oak Bay had hammered Spectrum 78-26, Dover Bay dumped Mount Doug 66-36, Vanier defeated Stelly鈥檚 76聽48 and Claremont peppered Alberni 78-48 in Thursday鈥檚 quarter-finals. The championship final is slated for 7 p.m. tonight.
Meanwhile, at the double-A girl鈥檚 Island championship at St. Michaels University School, the Wellington Wildcats got a bit of a scare before pulling off a 58-39 win over Mark Isfeld in a semifinal.
Up 21-7 late in the first half, Isfeld went on an 11-2 run before the Wildcats responded with a 27-18 lead at the half. An 8-0 run to start the third quarter eventually allowed the Wildcats to pull away.
Wellington will face SMUS, which defeated Shawnigan 64-39, in the 5:45聽p.m. championship game today.
