It was a team-building experience that metamorphosed into a championship run.
What what was launched in November, after months of prep work, would look nothing like the machine roaring at a fever pace last week in Langley.
Across a yellow brick road of sweat, dreams and lesson-serving knocks, the Burnaby South Rebels had constructed a championship.
The senior boys squad was crowned B.C. 4-A basketball champions after beating the Semiahmoo Totems 80-72 on Saturday before a boisterous crowd at the Langley Events Centre.
A fluid start, that saw No. 8-seed Burnaby lead by 10 after one quarter was tested more than a few times as the No. 6-rated Totems pulled within five on two occasions in the second quarter, including 34-29 at halftime.
But by continuing to build on that lead, the Rebels carved out a 59-48 advantage with 10 minutes remaining. The biggest resistance offered up came when Semiahmoo closed it within eight points, before Burnaby countered with an 11-3 run to put the icing on the school’s third championship, and first since 1979.
Senior forward Jusuf Sehic, who as a Grade 9 got his initial taste of the B.C.s, finished with an impressive 50 per cent mark from the field in the final and was voted the tourney’s MVP.
“One of my teammates, Noah Pastrana, was joking around I think in the quarter-final, he was like ‘You know that if we win you’re going to win MVP, right?’ I just kind of brushed it off,” Sehic said. “Leading all the way up to and the end of the game, I was not thinking about it at all. I was just focused on getting my team the win, because I wouldn’t care about getting an MVP trophy or first team all-star if we got second or third, right?
“I was more focused on bringing a provincial banner to our school and making our coaches and families proud.”
Every team member did just that, as the Rebels depended upon a balanced attack and big defensive stops by an array of contributors. That their foundation was firmed up through a week of practice after the Lower Mainlands, where they found themselves in a pair of must-win games to earn the district’s third and final berth to the B.C.s.
Nothing came easy for the Burnaby South boys, and each arduous lesson served as a reminder, cemented in the minds of those who tasted disappointment the past two seasons, how it would be all worth it.
There was no better evidence than the quarterfinal, where after kicking off the tourney with an 80-60 triumph over Lord Tweedsmuir, the Rebels fell square up against the No. 1 Oak Bay Bays. In a true measure of their transformation, the underdogs corralled a 14-point lead into halftime, only to witness a tsunami from the Bays, as the Island champs threw out a 22-0 run to power ahead 44-36.
Instead of folding, with the burden and weight of Oak Bay’s offence a major menace, Burnaby South reclaimed its footing and found a way to breach the tide. By the end of the third quarter the Rebels had trimmed a nine-point deficit to just three, and found within themselves the confidence to grab more.
They replied with the first 14 points of the final frame for a 62-51 lead, and successfully reclaimed the advantage en route to a shocking 78-66 decision.
“In the locker room, we knew not a lot of people expect us to win this game but we were going to give our absolute best,” said Sehic. “We respected (Oak Bay) but we were not afraid of them at all. We knew they were No. 1 going in, but as quoted by one of our coaches (Dave Smith), Why not us?”
Sehic scored 17 against the Bays, with Pastrana chipping in 14 and Stefano Benedetto contributing 13.
Their semfinal win over Island No. 2 Belmont, by a 70-55 margin, served as a successful primer coming off the heels of the huge Bays decision. They led much of the night, and when Belmont eked within two points after three quarters, like an experienced race horse Burnaby lengthened its stride to put some space between them and their rival. Grade 10 forward Sasha Vujisic counted 15 points, 19 boards and six blocks, while Sehic tallied a team-high 21 points.
No doubt, the confidence and meshing of two elements – veterans who weathered high hopes and a disappointing run in 2016-17, and the junior grads who brought with them a rosy brashness from being 2017 B.C. junior champions – was now a single piece. Driven for that same goal. It was getting to that point which took some time.
“So there were a lot of guys that had a lot of talent who could all play basketball at a high level, (but) the only thing we were trying to figure out at the beginning of the season and really all the way until the very end of the Lower Mainlands, was how we could mesh properly,” noted Sehic. “I thought the entire tournament we were going to win.”
Vujisic earned a spot on the first all-star team, while Grade 11 shooting guard Jiordano Khan was named to the second all-star squad.
The team will lose some big pieces and key leaders, with Sehic, Benedetto, Eubert Ayangwa, Vince Sunga, Yaphet Soloman, Patrick Cabug and Miguel Ortinero graduating.
There remains a strong core, including Vujisic, at six-foot-nine, guards Kyle Kirmaci, Baltej Sohal, Pastrana and Khan. The five-headed coaching team of Mike Bell, Cody Cormack, Karl Brysch, Randy Edwards and Smith, will have some time to consider the future where the Rebels will start as Public Enemy No. 1 on the provincial rankings.
The 2017-18 B.C. champions are: Eubert Ayangwa, Stefano Benedetto, Patrick Cabug, Jiordano Khan, Kyle Kirmaci, Miguel Ortinero Hanz Paloma, Noah Pastrana, Jusuf Sehic, Baltej Sohal, Yaphet Soloman, Vince Sunga, Sasha Vujisic and Aidan Wilson.
Sehic spent a special moment celebrating the win within the mob on the floor, embraced by his father Denad. It completed the circle, from a boy’s young dreams and the support quietly and selflessly supplied by the team parents and coaches over many years.
“I was a little bit in tears there, just a few,” Sehic said on Monday. “Soon as I saw (his father) I knew I had to hug him. As soon as we won, I remembered a lot of moments like, going to the park and having him rebound for me, even after he had a long day at work he’d still come to the park and rebound for me. It was like ‘This one’s for you, Mom and Dad.’”
