They had pulled out some big wins over the past couple of months but inconsistent play finally caught up with the Steveston-London Sharks on Thursday night at the B.C. Boys 3A Basketball Championships.
The Bodwell Bruins jumped out to a 27-10 second quarter lead and would go on to edge the Sharks 68-61 in a quarter-final match-up between the tournament’s No. 4 and No. 5 seeds at the Langley Events Centre.
The North Vancouver private school features plenty of size — led by 6-foot-9 Canberk Gungar and 6-foot-8 Arda Coban. Throw in the physical play 6-foot-3 forward Pedro Turoni Zaparolo and Sharks post standout Fardaws Aimaq had his hands full all night.
Still, the Richmond champions looked like they might pull out another win thanks to an excellent second quarter that cut the deficit to just six points. The teams traded baskets for much of the second half, including Zach Cantwell’s lay-up with two minutes remaining that tied the game at 61-61.
Fourteen seconds later, Aimaq picked up his fifth foul and the 6-foot-10 star could only watch from the bench as the Bruins closed out the game with seven unanswered points.
“We just didn’t play as a team tonight,” sighed Sharks head coach Mike Stoneburgh. “We turned the ball over and gave them way too many second and third opportunities. You can't just stand there and watch Fardaws try to out rebound against three or four guys when they are 6’7 and 6’8.”
Steveston-London survived an opening round scare against Bodwell at last year’s provincials and also pulled out a 77-75 victory at the Robert Bateman Tournament back in January. It was a match-up that concerned Stoneburgh and he wishes his players felt the same way.
The Sharks came out flat and exerted a lot of energy to climb back in the game. Unlike their own Bob Carkner Classic, the city final and the Lower Mainland playoffs, there would be no pulling out a win this time.
The slow start was perplexing given this was a team with five seniors on the floor much of the time and last year’s stinging provincial final loss to Southridge should have been a huge motivating factor.
“Everybody said we were going to be fine but it’s huge trying to beat a good team three times in a row,” added Stoneburgh. “They came out wanting it more than we did. Our guys just kind of came in here thinking we were going back to the final.
“If we played like we did in the second quarter and for most of the third we would have been fine but you can’t have those kind of lapses against teams that are playing you that hard.
“Then in the last three minutes it’s a one point game and guys are fighting with the referee or with me. We were putting a lot of negative energy into negative things when all we really needed was some stops and some good looks. But we couldn’t do it.”
Aimaq and Zach Cantwell each finished with 21 points.
Steveston-London plays St. Thomas More in consolation play tonight at 7 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Cambie Crusaders were in tough against No. 1 seed Brentwood College in their 2A quarter-final match-up Thursday afternoon.
The Vancouver Island boarding school raced out to a big first quarter lead and would go on to hand the tournament’s No. 8 seed a 90-47 loss.
Grade 12 guard Kevin Dhillon had 15 points in a losing cause.
Cambie takes on Lambrick Park today in consolation play.
