RC Palmer Griffins took their season within two games of winning it all before running into a Victoria juggernaut at the B.C. Boys AA Basketball Championships.
The Richmond and Lower Mainland champions settled for fourth place after an 83-78 loss to the Valleyview Vikings on Saturday at the Langley Events Centre. The result came on the heels of Palmer falling 106-58 to eventual champion Lambrick Park Lions in the semi-finals. Yes, this was the same Island team the Griffins defeated back in December to temporarily take over the No. 1 ranking in the province.
On this night, Palmer simply had no answer for the Lions’ lethal inside and outside game.
Lambrick Park enjoyed a significant size advantage — led by post standout Matt Neufeld. The Griffins tried to counter it by playing a 2-3 zone defence. What they weren’t counting on was their opponent going crazy from the perimeter — led by Grade 9 twins Calvin and Austin Sommers.
They combined to hit nine of 15 three-point attempts in the opening half, putting Palmer in a huge 26-point hole it was never going to climb out of. Calvin had 22 points in the first half alone, while Austin added eight. If that wasn’t enough to deal with, Lions standout point guard Ishmail Adbulahi was brilliant all over the court — finishing with a game high 33 points.
The night started promising enough for the Griffins as Gurjit Pooni drained three straight three-pointers to give his team a 9-2 lead. However, the excitement was short-lived and, to make matters worse, the standout senior saw his high school career end in the second quarter with an ankle injury that sent him to hospital.
“It was a rough night for our boys,” said Palmer head coach Paul Eberhardt. “Lambrick Park is an extremely talented team and well-coached. We just couldn’t get it going and when Gurjit went down to made things very tough for us.
“Still, fourth place in the province is a pretty impressive accomplishment for the boys.”
It took a pair of challenging wins to reach the final four.
The Griffins opened the 16-team tournament with a hard-fought 81-76 win over the Delview Raiders. They trailed 25-11 after one quarter and methodically battled back, led by the 46-point performance of senior guard Antonio Jhuty.
The quarter-final tilt against South Okanagan was an equally tough affair. Palmer took a 56-47 lead into halftime but a poor shooting third quarter left the teams tied at 67-67, heading into the final 10 minutes. The Griffins hit some clutch shots down the stretch for an 86-81 victory.
Jhuty led the way again with 38 points and would go on to finish second in tournament scoring, averaging 33.5 points per contest to earn first team all-star honours. Pooni added 25 points and nine assists, while Ryo Takenaka had 15 points and 11 rebounds.
