The St. Thomas More Knights were good as gold on Saturday.
The No. 2-ranked team among B.C. senior boys Triple-A basketball, the Knights rode a hot first half and held on when it counted, beating the cross-town rival Byrne Creek Bulldogs 65-56 to claim the STM Chancellor tournament title.
And STM coach Aaron Mitchell hopes it’s a sign of things to come. His team roared out to a 13-5 lead in the championship game, with eight of its 13 field goals in the first half from beyond the arc.
It was a start which bodes well, if they can continue to build on it, he said.
“I don’t think nerves are an issue, I think it’s just about being anxious,” Mitchell said of his team. “We knew Byrne Creek was coming after us and that they wanted to beat us… Win or lose we knew this doesn’t make our season.”
But it certainly made their day.
The Knights’ shooters were getting plenty of looks from long distance, with E.J. Escobedo, Cam Morris and Richard Galicia sinking treys for a 9-5 lead. Morris would cap the quarter with a layup to make it 17-9, putting the Bulldogs in a precarious position.
In the second frame, STM kept up the pace and added five treys, including two more by Morris, to lead 36-19 at the half.
But Byrne Creek regained the form which had seen them outlast Robert Bateman in a thrilling 74-73 win in the semifinal, and chipped away at the Knights lead, 19-15 during the third quarter, then narrowed the gap to within six points when Abdul Bangura lead an eight-point run midway through the fourth period.
The margin closed to four points when Martin Djunga sank one of the Bulldogs’ two treys on the night and added a free throw for a 56-52 score. But Ryan Yuen calmed the comeback attempt with a big two-point bucket with less than three minutes to go, followed by a big trey from Morris a minute later.
Byrne Creek, which would lose the services of Bangura and Grade 10 Bithow Wan to fouls with under two minutes to play, couldn’t stake out another rally.
“We just wanted to come out strong, we wanted to build some momentum early… It was very physical but it feels good,” said Morris, who was voted the tourney MVP. “My wrist had been hurting for some time, but today I just didn’t feel it. I just took my shots and they were falling in.”
Morris counted a game-high 20 points, while Escobedo and Galicia chipped in 13 apiece. For the Bulldogs, Djunga tallied 19 points – including the team’s first 11 points – and Wan contributed 11.
While the result wasn’t what they aimed for, Byrne Creek co-captains Wan and Sufi Ahmed remarked how the effort and experience were going to pay off down the road.
“Our coach just told us to stick it out, hold our composure and stay positive… We just have to stay together as a team and keep our heads up. We’re going to face tough teams like this during the season,” said Wan, a veteran still just in Grade 10.
“We had to stick together as a team, it was important that we refused to go away,” added Ahmed, also in Grade 10.
Mitchell said beating No. 3-rated Byrne Creek, after earlier triumphs over Sutherland, 73-40, and No. 3-ranked Double-A G.W. Graham 75-72, was just another experience preparing them for the playoffs.
“We’re starting to build leads – I’d like to see us close them out a little better but team like Byrne Creek and G.W. Graham are tops in the province for a reason. Their not going to go away,” he noted.
In the win over Sutherland, Morris counted 20 points and Sajjun Shokar tallied 15. Morris again was tops in scoring in the semifinal against Graham, scoring 24 points. Galicia chipped in 22, while Shokar hit for 15.
Wan racked up 34 points in the Bulldogs' win over Bateman, while Ahmed netted 17. In Byrne Creek's 54-48 decision over No. 1 Double-A ranked St. Michael's, Wan pocketed a team-high 16 points.
Bangura was named the top defensive player of the final, while Morris took the game’s offensive award. Picking up first all-star team honours were Escobedo, Galicia, Wan and Byrne’s Majok Deng.
On the second team were Shokar and Djunga.
The two teams now head in different directions, with the Knights entered in this week’s B.C. Catholic championships at Holy Cross – opening on Thurssday against the winner of St. Andrews and Archbishop Carney – and Byrne Creek taking on Hugh Boyd in the opening game Thursday of the Bob Carkner Blue and Gold tournament at Steveston-London.
