The RC Palmer Griffins’ appearance at the Richmond Olympic Oval sure looked like it was going to be a very brief one until they saved their season Monday night.
The Griffins came storming back from a 21-point 3rd quarter deficit to edge the Britannia Bruins 87-83 in opening round action at the Lower Mainland “AA” Boys Basketball Championships.
The result set-up a semi-final match-up with No. 2 ranked and heavy tournament favourite King George Dragons on Tuesday night, but a loss would still send Palmer to Thursday’s third place game for the final provincial berth.
That wouldn’t have been the case had the Griffins went down on Monday and, for the better part of one half, it sure looked that way.
The Bruins’ red-hot perimeter shooting gave them a 17-point halftime lead and the margin grew to 51-30 before Palmer came to life. They closed the deficit to 10 points after three quarters and continued the momentum in the fourth, including a 10-3 stretch to conclude the game
“The biggest thing was we switched to man (defence) in the second half,” said a relieved head coach Rob Brown. “They were shredding our zone and getting open shooters everywhere. We didn’t have an answer. They still got their shots off in the second half but at least we felt we were in the game. I thought we were dead and buried.”
Impressive Grade 11s Sorosh Sidiqi and Andrew Reddy led Palmer with 26 and 19 points respectively. Senior Kyle Dass added 18.
The Griffins finished with a 2-6 record in the highly competitive Richmond League but have been in the provincial “AA” rankings all season, despite a roster that features only four Grade 12s.
Barring a huge upset against King George, their season will come down to having to beat city rival Cambie or St. Pat’s on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. to get to the Langley Events Centre in two weeks time.
“We need to show up,” added Brown. “I don’t think we did that today. Now, we just have to win one of our next two to advance.”
Other opening round action Monday saw Cambie cruise to a 94-65 win over University Hill, while Hugh Boyd fell 96-63 to St. Pat’s.
The Oval is also hosting this week’s Lower Mainland “AAA” and “AAAA” Championships. Four Richmond teams remain in contention in the “AAA” draw, including defending champion Steveston-London facing St. Thomas More in the semi-finals on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.
At the same time, the McMath Wildcats will take on the Richmond Colts in an elimination game. That will be followed by the McNair Marlins trying to extend their season against Windermere at 4:30 p.m.
A total of four B.C. berths are up for grabs.
