Championship Final: #1 “AAAA” Oak Bay Bays vs #5 “AAAA” Tamanawis Wildcats
Despite being on a neutral court, the stands for the final of the Vancouver College Emerald Tournament had filled up. #1 “AAAA” Oak Bay defeated McMath 76-65 and Semiahmoo 100-80 to earn their way to the final. #5 “AAAA” Tamanawis won against Vancouver College 81-67, Belmont 84-75 and Brentwood College 71-62 to play in the final.
Tamanawis would win the opening tip and Miguel Tomley would open the scoring with a corner “3”. The Wildcats jumped out to an 11-0 lead, in thanks to their 2-3 zone which had Oak Bay settling for outside shots. Soon it became clear why Oak Bay had no problem taking these shots. With 3:30 left in the first quarter the Bays finally got their first field goal off of a corner three ball from Diego Maffia. On the next two possessions Maffia would hit two more “3’s” to make the score 11-9. Miguel Tomley would hit a “3” of his own to stop the run, but Maffia would go for one more on the following play. They two would trade triples to end the quarter and Oak Bay had managed to take an 18-17 lead at the break.
Oak Bay came out in the second and stayed hot with a 5-0 run, which Miguel Tomley put a stop to with a spinning “and 1” layup. Oak Bay would continue their assault from outside notching six more triples in the second quarter - including five from Diego Maffia which put his grand total at 10 triples in the half and 32 points in total. Miguel Tomley was clearly up for the challenge as he had 28 points of his own at the half, but his Wildcats were down 42-35
In the third quarter, the Wildcats adjusted to guard Diego Maffia, which allowed Riley Cronk to go for 10 points in the quarter. Miguel Tomley continued his physical play and showed the crowd his full offensive arsenal as he scored from all over the court. 30 minutes into the game, Oak Bay led 60-51.
The teams traded baskets early in the fourth and at the half-way mark of the final quarter the lead was still 10 points for the Oak Bay Bays. The Tamanawis Wildcats did not want to go away and used an 8-0 run to cut the lead to just two at 76-74 with three minutes to play. Oak Bay would rally and hold onto their lead for an eventual 82-74 win. Diego Maffia finished with 44 points (14 3’s) while Miguel Tomley finished with 55 points.
3rd/4th Place: #2 “AAAA” Semiahmoo Totems vs #1 “AA” Brentwood College
Brentwood College looked to continue their impressive season playing against higher tiered schools in the Emerald Tournament. They knocked off Walnut Grove 90-82, but lost to #5 “AAAA” Tamanawis in the semi-finals 71-62. They would play the #2 “AAAA” Semiahmoo Totems in the third place game. Semiahmoo won their opening round game against Pinetree 85-74 before losing to eventual tournament champions and #1 “AAAA” Oak Bay 100-80 in the semi-final.
Both Brentwood College and Semiahmoo had lineups that featured a number of tall players which put space on the court at a premium. It was clear from the start that the Totems would look to their leaders Vlad Mahaila and Adam Paige to take them to victory as they accounted for all 22 of the teams first quarter points. For Brentwood College the scoring was spread more evenly, but they trailed 22-14 after the first quarter. Nathan Pasloske would go for 10 points in the second and help Brentwood College secure a 36-35 lead at the half. In the second half both Semiahmoo continued to attack behind Paige and Mahaila and used a 12-0 run to open up a comfortable 66-48 lead entering the fourth.
Brentwood College, however was not ready to go home, just yet. They would turn their defence up and use their own 11-0 run to cut the lead to single digits with three minutes to play. Semiahmoo gathered themselves and managed to hold the a 77-68 lead with a minute and a half to play. Brentwood College would use some hustle (offensive rebound + diving on the floor) to score a bucket to go down seven and allowing them to set their press up. A Totem turnover right to the hands of the Brentwood College under their hoop resulted in an easy bucket and just a five point deficit with 1:10 on the clock. Brentwood opted to foul putting the Totems at the line where they would go up 79-72. A quick “3” by Brentwood College kept the game close, and then another Totem turnover in their backcourt led to another Brentwood College “3” which close the gap to just one point and 38.2 seconds left. Semiahmoo would force the issue resulting in Vlad Mahaila stepping to the line to sink to free throws to go up three with 15 seconds remaining. Brentwood College would use a nice out of bounds play to free Jonathon Macdonald to score a quick two and then fouling quickly with five seconds on the clock. The Totems would miss both free throws leaving the door wide open for Brentwood College. Brentwood would secure the rebound and push the ball up the floor quickly to get a shot attempt. They would get the shot up with a defender in the picture. What looked like could have been a foul, was not, as no whistle was blown and the buzzer sounded. Confident with their call, the refs left the floor leaving Semiahmoo relieved after surviving the comeback attempt, and Brentwood College (and their fans who made the trip) looking for answers. Final score 81-80 for Semiahmoo.
The scoresheet reflected two very different approaches. Semiahmoo was led by Adam Paige and Vlad Mahaila who had 32 and 35 respectively. Meanwhile, Brentwood College had four players in double figures led by Somto Dimonachie with 21.
Consolation Final: #4 “AAAA” Walnut Grove Gators vs Terry Fox Ravens
After losing their first round game to #1 “AA” Brentwood College 90-82, the Gators would defeat Vancouver College 86-78 and McMath 93-76 to advance to the consolation final where they would play the Terry Fox Ravens. Terry Fox had spent the last five weeks as a “AAAA” Honorable mention but were dropped from the rankings just one day before the tournament. Terry Fox lost their opening round game 86-69 against McMath before beating Pinetree 76-60 and Belmont 86-69.
In the first quarter the teams looked evenly matched, and the score reflected that with Terry Fox holding a 16-15 lead. By half, Terry Fox had extended its lead to five points by a score of 38-33. In the opening half eight Walnut Grove players made contributions to the scoreboard with more than half of their field goals coming from behind the three point line.
The Terry Fox offence stalled in the third quarter and reigning “AAAA” MVP James Woods started to heat up which led to a 51-51 tie entering the final quarter. The Gators continued their hot shooting in the fourth, knocking down five triples on their way to a 74-66 win.
For the Gators James Woods led them with 29 points, while Alasdair Coyle added four “3’s” on his was to 13 points. The high scorers for Terry Fox were Jacob Mand who went for 24 in the game and Ko Takahashi who went for 13, with 11 of those coming in the first half.
Full Tournament Results:
Game 1: Vancouver College vs Tamanawis 67-81
Game 2: Terry Fox vs McMath 69-86
Game 3: Pinetree vs Semiahmoo 74-85
Game 4: Walnut Grove vsBrentwood College 82-90
Game 5: Belmont vsTamanawis 75-84
Game 6: Oak Bay vs McMath 76-65
Game 7: Vancouver College vs Walnut Grove 78-86
Game 8: Pinetree vs Terry Fox 60-76
Game 9: Tamanawis vs Brentwood College 71-62
Game 10: Semiahmoo vs Oak Bay 80-100
Game 11: Walnut Grove vs McMath 93-76
Game 12: Terry Fox vs Belmont 86-69
Game 13: Vancouver College vs Pinetree 95-90
Game 14: McMath vs Belmont 92-78
Game 15 (Consolation Final): Walnut Grove vs Terry Fox 74-66
Game 16 (3rd/4th): Brentwood College vs Semiahmoo 80-81
Game 17(Final): Tamanawis vs Oak Bay 74-82
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