The St. George鈥檚 Saints will go marching further into the elite round of eight at the sa国际传媒 triple-A senior boys basketball championship, relegating the Claremont Spartans to the consolation side of the draw.
The Saints used an 11-4 run in the first quarter to pull away and the Spartans never recovered in a 93-80 loss at the Langley Events Centre on Wednesday.
Down 27-16 after the first quarter and 49-35 at the half, the Spartans closed it to 59-52 in the third, but trailed 71-57 as Deklan Chung buried a three-pointer at the quarter buzzer.
鈥淲e were expending a lot of energy at 59-52,鈥� said Spartans head coach Davey Sundher. 鈥淚f we could have got it to 59-54 the game might have gone differently.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e well coached. They called a timeout, came out with a good set, got a score to make it 61-52 and that was kind of our best shot. It was writing on the wall from then on.鈥�
In the late game, the Belmont Bulldogs dropped a 65-59 decision to the South Kamloops Titans. Erik Spaven had 32 points in the losing cause.
As for the Spartans, the Island champions can now finish no better than sixth.
St. George鈥檚 was led by six-foot-seven forward Drew Urquhart who had 26 points.
鈥淗e hurt us, his size,鈥� Sundher said of Urquhart. 鈥淲e kind of got exposed for what we are, we鈥檝e been undersized all year and we鈥檝e been dealing with it, but when you play the big boys it makes it tough to rebound.鈥�
Sundher did receive another wonderful performance from Island MVP Mason Loewen, who finished with 27 points.
鈥淗e played hard and he showed the province the type of player he is,鈥� said Sundher.
Caillum White buried back-to-back threes for Claremont in the fourth and finished with 21 points.
