Vancouver Island secondary schools brought home a trio of medals from sa国际传媒 basketball championships on Saturday, led by a silver from Brentwood College in the boys double A event in Kamloops.
The most exciting game of the day, however, may have been the Oak Bay Breakers senior girls bouncing back from a 28-20 deficit at the half 鈥� which quickly stretched to a 16-point disadvantage to start the third quarter 鈥� to defeat the Maple Ridge Ramblers 53-50.
That gritty win earned the Island champions the bronze at the triple A girls sa国际传媒 title in Langley.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 give up,鈥� said Oak Bay assistant coach Reese Pribilsky, who watched his recruits out-score Maple Ridge 19-11 in the final quarter for the win. 鈥淲e kept plugging away, kept grinding. They started missing and we started getting some turnovers.鈥�
The Breakers were coming off a difficult 58-32 semifinal loss the night before to eventual tournament champions, the South Kamloops Titans. Oak Bay was kept to just two points in the third quarter of that defeat.
鈥淭hat was tough for the girls. It was a tough night, but it was sweet battling back for a bronze,鈥� said Pribilisky. 鈥淲e were gunning for gold coming in and we definitely thought we were one of the top teams.鈥�
Lauren Yearwood had 16 points and Chloe Campbell added 13 for victorious Oak Bay.
Meanwhile, Brentwood opened up a quick 7-0 lead and also held an 11-6 advantage after the first quarter, but fell 58-47 to the Kelowna Christian Knights to settle for silver.
The Mill Bay private school trailed 27-16 after the second and 41-32 after three before closing it to 49-43 when Jordan Charles popped a three-pointer and added a pair of free throws.
It wasn鈥檛 meant to be, however, as the Knights prevailed.
Charles finished with 20 points in a losing cause and Ulas Zeyrek added 16 for Brentwood.
In the bronze medal game, the Lambrick Park Lions were down by four at the half, behind by six after three quarters and cut it to 74-70 before it got away on them.
The Lions lost an 86-75 heartbreaker to the Holy Cross Crusaders.
鈥淚鈥檓 very proud of our kids,鈥� said Lions coach Ed Somers, who had a shortened bench. 鈥淲e had nine on our squad as Chris Fougner was hit with mono and we battled hard to get fourth in the province.
鈥淚t was a great, great year,鈥� added Somers, whose team finished third at Islands.
Taylor Browne, who recorded six three-pointers, finished with 20 points along with teammate Aaron Madaisky for Holy Cross. Alex Chen and Brendan Somers replied with 22 and 19 respectively for the Lions.
Meanwhile, St. Michael鈥檚 University School received 18 points from Dawit Workie and 10 from Mac Catto in a 69-60 win over R.C. Palmer in the fifth-place game.
In double A girls play, the Wellington Wildcats, of Nanaimo, rebounded for a 61-55 bronze-medal win over St. Thomas Aquinas as Sara Simovic recorded 22 points in the win.
SMUS lost 58-49 to Sa-Hali in the seventh-place game.
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