The Oak Bay Bays will get a chance to defend their triple A senior boys basketball Island Championship, courtesy of a convincing 67-37 victory over the Cowichan Thunderbirds on Friday night at Mount Douglas Secondary.
They will have to go through the South Island champion Claremont Spartans, who thumped the Belmont Bulldogs 71-36 in the late semifinal.
Oak Bay will be going for its 20th Island crown while Claremont will be in search of No. 2, winning it in 2002 and finishing second in sa国际传媒
Tonight鈥檚 two finalists could advance to provincials, slated for March 12-16 at the Langley Events Centre. The champ is guaranteed to attend, but the runner-up may face a challenge from the third-place finisher, if they have not met at this tournament.
鈥淣ew team, new year,鈥� Bays coach Chris Franklin said of the win. 鈥淲e鈥檙e happy to have the opportunity to play for a championship.鈥�
The Bays defeated Belmont 68-60 in the Island final last year, but finished eighth at provincials.
鈥淚t鈥檚 tough getting off this Island,鈥� said Bays鈥� guard Jake Miller. 鈥淲e want to try and get to provincials, but the ultimate goal is to win this Island. All Island finals are low scoring so if we can defend the ball well and grab some rebounds we鈥檒l have a chance to win.鈥�
The defence was stubborn in both semis. The Bays opened up a 35-19 halftime lead on Cowichan and kept the pressure on throughout.
Belmont managed to reach double digits in a quarter just once on Claremont wih 12 points in the third.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a rematch of the [South] final, we鈥檝e played them tough, they鈥檝e played us tough. It鈥檚 50-50,鈥� Claremont coach Davey Sundher said of facing Oak Bay.
In consolation play on Friday, Spectrum peppered Dover Bay 75-59 thanks to Darian Vandermerwe鈥檚 game-high 30 points, although teammate Jacob Pheiffer did have 29.
Mount Doug also rebounded with a 61-54 win over G.P. Vanier, led by Ashton MacKinnon鈥檚 16 points.
Both Spectrum and Mount Doug still have a chance at bronze, awaiting the semifinal losers this morning. The bronze-medal game is set to tip off tonight at 6.
