It was the high and low of the Cambie Crusaders’ season so far in a 48 hour span.
Fresh off a big win over the McMath Wildcats, the Crusaders misfired for much of the night in a 63-49 loss to the RC Palmer Griffins.
The match-up between two of the province’s top 10 ranked AA teams was not exactly an offensive clinic.
The Griffins relied on a hot perimeter shooting first quarter to produce 26 points and nursed that lead much of the night, twice turning back Cambie comeback attempts.
The Crusaders didn’t crack the 30 point barrier until midway through the third quarter thanks to far too many turnovers. Still, they managed to cut an 18 point fourth quarter lead down to seven before the Griffins iced the victory with a couple of big threes.
“We just couldn’t take care of the basketball at all,” sighed Cambie head coach Chris Mattu. “We also couldn’t buy a shot from the outside. It seemed like nobody could make a basket.
“We came in on a high after (the 64-62) McMath win and the guys thought they could just roll in here and win. Palmer is a good ‘AA’ team that is deep with experience where we have three seniors and nine Grade 11s. This was a good learning experience and I’m glad it’s only January.”
The teams could very well meet again at next month’s Richmond playoffs or the Lower Mainland AA Championships. Two provincial berths will be on the line with currently three teams in the top 10 rankings — King George (3), Palmer (7) and Cambie (9).
The Crusaders will continue to diet on top AA teams this week. They headed to the Island yesterday to take on No. 10 St. Michaels University.
As for the Griffins, the win was another significant step in their bounce back season after going 3-6 in city play a year ago. They now sit 3-1 with their only loss coming to unbeaten Steveston-London.
“It’s nice to be playing with Grade 12s in this league instead of Grade 11s,” smiled coach Rob Brown. “Our guys have grown up a lot and we have a nice split this season. We have been going in (hot shooting) spurts a lot.
“Cambie is a pretty good team that maybe didn’t play their best tonight. But it always seems like any given Sunday in the Richmond league.”
The Griffins also rolled to a big win over MacNeill last week and have responded well since returning from a trip to California.
“It was a great for us,” Brown added. “First of all we needed an eye opener (game) and we definitely got that. Then we wanted to have something to build on and we managed to get a couple of wins. It was a really good team building thing. It served us well.”
