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Thunder, Wildcats fall short at junior hoops tourney

The Panorama Ridge Thunder came up one win short and settled for silver at the 2014 B.C. Junior Boys Basketball Championships staged at the Langley Events Centre last weekend.

The Newton school began the tournament in impressive fashion, edging the South Kamloops Titans 56-55 in their opener and then downing Coquitlam’s Terry Fox Ravens 58-53 in their next outing.

The Thunder then skinned the Walnut Grove Gators 49-43 in the semifinals before losing the biggest game of the season 53-50 to the West Vancouver Highlanders in the tournament finale.

Chuks Udevi was a first team all-star while teammate Devin Dhillon earned second team honours.

Elsewhere, the Tamanawis Wildcats missed out on an all-Surrey championship final when West Van ousted them in the semifinals 49-44.

The Wildcats then took out their frustrations on Walnut Grove with a 58-50 win in the bronze medal game.

Miguel Tomley was named to the first all-star team while fellow Wildcat Sagar Dulay made the second team.

Fleetwood Park finished seventh overall, led by second team all-star Bhavan Dhillon.

 

Senior Boys AA

The Delview Raiders, Pacific Academy Breakers and Southridge Storm all finished out of the running at the 2014 B.C. Senior Boys AA Basketball Championships in Langley last week.

The Storm were the cream of the local crop, splitting their four games to wind up 10th overall. Pacific Academy followed in 11th place while Delview finished in 13th.

Despite the Raiders’ lowly finish, Delview’s Jaiten Rana earned second all-star honours for his efforts, highlighted by a 52-point performance in an 82-81 third-round win over D.P. Todd. Another Raider, Wowie Untalan, saved his best for last with 25 points, 15 assists, 13 rebounds, and 10 steals in a 75-63 win over Golden.

 

Junior girls

Two Surrey schools finished in the top half of the standings at the 2014 B.C. Junior Girls’ Basketball Championships at the Langley Events Centre last week.

The Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers alternated wins and losses over the four-day tourney to wind up sixth overall.

The Big Cats beat Oak Bay 40-36 in the curtain raiser, but were bumped from championship contention when they lost 48-31 to McMath. The Panthers bounced back with a 55-40 win over Kelowna and then closed the week with a 51-50 loss to Seycove in the fifth-place game.

Meanwhile, the Panorama Ridge Thunder posted an impressive 56-43 win over Nechako Valley in their opener, but then dropped their next three games to Yale, Seycove and Kelowna to finish eighth overall.

Savannah Dhaliwal of Panorama Ridge was named to the second all-star team.

 

Grade 8s

At the B.C. Grade 8 Basketball Invitational in Pitt Meadows, two Surrey teams managed to crack the top three in girls’ action.

The Sullivan Heights Stars advanced to the championship final where they dropped a 42-39 decision to W.A. Fraser and settled for a silver medal.

En route to the final, Sullivan Heights knocked off Glenbrook 50-38, MEI 43-28 and Surrey rival Lord Tweedsmuir 44-24 in the semifinals.

Lord Tweedsmuir bounced back from that loss to beat York House 42-23 in the bronze medal game.

Emma Kramer of Sullivan Heights was named to the first all-star team while teammate Shelvin Grewal was a second-team selection.

Lord Tweedsmuir’s Madison Johnson was also a first-team all-star while fellow Panther Sedona Arabsky was a second-team honouree.

Meanwhile on the boys’ side of the draw, the Semiahmoo Totems split their four games to wind up in sixth place overall in the final standings.

Semi opened the tourney with a 71-35 romp over Westsyde, but dropped their second game 71-64 to the eventual champs from Burnaby South. After beating Kitsilano 63-56, the Totems closed out the tourney with a 62-44 loss to St. George’s.

Vlad Malhailla was named to the second all-star team while Cole McAvoy was a third-team selection in the post-tourney awards.