#4 “AA” King George Dragons (10-0) vs #10 “AAA” Sir Charles Tupper Tigers (9-0)
Sir Charles Tupper - Last night, the two teams with no regular season losses put their undefeated records on the line. The #4 “AA” King George Dragons (10-0) have been rolling as of late while the #10 “AAA” Sir Charles Tupper (9-0) Tigers slid down the rankings from last week. More than anything, this game was a battle for city pride. Who would establish themselves as the best team in Vancouver and gain the edge heading into playoffs. Fans from both teams came out to support their teams, which led to a great atmosphere in the gym for the showdown.
The energy in the gym was high right from the jump as both teams understood the implications of the game. The Tigers would score first, but it was the Dragons who threw the next couple of punches - in the form of two “3’s” from #6 Seyoung Choi. With 2:30 left in the first quarter it was the visiting Dragons who led 12-4. For Tupper, their next basket came from a tough floater in the middle of the Dragons zone from #3 Gaurab Acharya. King George looked to pound the ball inside and capitalize on their size, as they appeared to outsize the Tigers at almost every position. #17 Boris Obradovic of the Dragons got an easy lay up inside on his way to 16 first half points. An “and-1” by #17 Matthew Dunkerly of Tupper made the score 16-9 to end the quarter.
#7 Joven Dhillon of the Tigers and #17 Boris Obradovic for the Dragons opened the scoring in the second for their teams respectively. #9 J.J. Roldan would hit a “3” and on the very next play #12 Ranell Sebastian got a tough running lay-up that he kissed high off the glass to fall to cut the King George lead to three. King George called a timeout to regroup and didn’t look back from there. They would use an 11-0 run including two triples from #9 Nikola Guzina to open up a 15 point lead with one minute left in the half. #5 Sebastian Lemos would hit a baseline floater for the Tigers on their last possession, but left enough time for the Dragons to hit #9 Nikola Guzina for a corner three as time expired. The score was 40-24 at the half when both teams entered the locker rooms.
The second half opened with buckets from #11 Raz Gugasyan of the Dragons and #7 Joven Dhillon of Charles Tupper. The Tigers started the half strong including an “and 1” that brought the Tigers within striking distance. Unfortunately, the Dragons answered back with a 16-0 run behind the strong play of #5 Dhol Baboth, #6 Seyoung Choi, and #13 Mohab Mundadi who all contributed a few buckets. The Dragons size continued to cause problems for the Tigers who were forced into tough shots against a swarming defence. By the third buzzer the score had ballooned to 66-36 for the visiting Dragons.
#6 Seyoung Choi of King George would get the first bucket of the quarter with a driving lay-up before #16 Mitchell Morgan scored for the Tigers. The scoring slowed through the middle section of the quarter until #5 Dhol Baboth of King George hit a “3”. #9 J.J. Roldan would hit back to back corner “3’s” for the Tigers to keep the score board moving. In the closing minutes #4 Kenneth Villanueva shot the passing lane for a steak and got a wide open lay up. When the final buzzer sounded, it was the King George Dragons on top by a score of 80-47.
Tupper plays their last regular season game tonight against Point Grey. Next week the Vancouver playoffs begin on Tuesday February 6th with King George as the #1 Seed and Charles Tupper at the #2 seed. Match-ups are still to be determined. All games will be hosted at Windermere Secondary.
Make sure to get out and support your local Vancouver Basketball teams on their road to provincials!
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