Seven local high school teams competed in the fourth annual Pat Dooley Memorial Junior Boys Basketball Classic, but it was the eighth team from Richmond which emerged as champions at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
The A.R. MacNeill Ravens won three consecutive games at the Dec. 1-3 competition, defeating the Panorama Ridge Thunder 55-53, the Elgin Park Orcas 65-32 and the Pacific Academy Breakers 68-33 to place first. They were led by tournament Most Valuable Player Nathan Tomas.
Panorama Ridge placed third, defeating the North Surrey Spartans 68-49. In the fifth/sixth playoff game, Elgin Park defeated the Kwantlen Park Timberwolves 38-30.
In its four-year history, the Classic title has been won by four different teams.
Teams of players in Grades 9-10 competed in honor of Pat Dooley, a member of the Kwantlen Eagles basketball family who passed away suddenly on Feb. 5, 2008.
“The Pat Dooley Memorial Junior Boys Basketball Classic is about more than just basketball,” commented Elise Le Brun, Kwantlen’s director, athletics and recreation. “It’s about following your passion; sportsmanship; being a part of the community, but most of all, it’s about honoring a young man who embodied all of these elements.”
Classic all-stars were Matt Strang of Elgin Park, Afan Saleem of the North Delta Huskies, Nimrit Plaha of Panorama Ridge, Mosses Adediran of Pacific Academy and Omar Tung of A.R. MacNeill.