By Howard Tsumura, The Province
LANGLEY — Miguel Tomley wasn’t perfect over the latter stages of Friday night’s Fraser Valley Quad A senior boys basketball championship final at the Langley Events Centre.
But the bottom line for the Tamanawis Wildcats’ Grade 10 sensation?
He gets the job done.
Tomley, dogged by foul problems that saw him sit out the second quarter against Langley power Walnut Grove, hit a crucial trey that tied the score 91-91 in the late going.
Then, he went to free throw line to shoot a pair twice over the final 10 seconds.
Despite going 1-of-2 each time, it was still enough to lift Surrey’s Wildcats over the hometown Gators 93-91 to take the behemoth conference’s top seed into the upcoming B.C. Quad A championships March 9-12 at the same Langley Events Centre.
“It was kind of a battle of catchups,” said Tamanawis head coach Mike McKay. “We have guards and they have bigs. They wanted to slow it down, we wanted to speed it up. It got into a track meet and that is how we wanted to play.”
Tomley, picked tournament MVP, finished with 35 points, but his foul issues and those of centre Gurman Bhanghu put the ‘Cats in jeopardy at various stages.
Gary Sahota added 20 for the winners and Sagar Dulay another 18 points.
Ty Rowell scored 26 to lead the Gators.
“We got lucky against Holy Cross (at the Valleys) but I think we’re on a bit of a roll right now,” said McKay. “I think we’re in a good place right now.”
The Wildcats beat Centennial, Yale and Holy Cross en route to the final.
Eight Fraser Valley teams will make up half of the 16-team Quad A BC field.
W.J. Mouat defeated Holy Cross 113-92 for third place, surprising North Surrey toppled Yale 99-89 for fifth place and Panorama Ridge beat Terry Fox 69-68 for seventh.
Rowell and teammate Jake Cowley, Sahota, Mouat’s Jordyn Sekhon and Aaqib Dillon of North Surrey were picked as first-team all-stars.