The McMath Wildcats came up a possession or two short in their bid to reach the Final Four at the B.C. 3A Boys Basketball Championships.
The Wildcats dropped a 78-73 decision to the North Delta Huskies in an intense and highly-entertaining affair on Thursday at the Langley Events Centre. It was a match-up of the tournament’s fifth and fourth seeds respectively.
Trailing 74-73 in the final minute, the Wildcats got the stop they needed but the Huskies came up with a huge offensive rebound.
Forced to foul, Armann Johal missed the back half of the 2-and-2 but another rebound kept the ball with North Delta. This time both free throws were good and McMath’s provincial run was over.
Grade 11 standout Suraj Gahir scored a game-high 30 points for the Huskies while Johal added 28, despite being in second half foul trouble. Bryce Mason led a balanced Wildcats attack with 18 points. Victor Radocaj added 16, Jordin Kojima 15 and Rohan Balaggan 14. Radocaj also had 16 rebounds.
The teams had met just one previous time this season at the Burnaby South tournament in December where the Huskies squeaked out a 71-70 win. The rematch delivered a similar script. North Delta goes on to face No. 1 Byrne Creek in the semi-finals while the Wildcats can now finish no better than fifth.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow of course. Expectations were high at the beginning of the season,” said Wildcats co-coach Max Pecarsky. “Two of their guys combined for 60 points. Against their zone we didn’t seem to execute too well and were missing some (easy looks). That’s high school basketball.”
The Wildcats feature a mixture of experience and youth — led by seniors Mason and Kojima. The starting five also includes a pair of Grade 10s — Radocaj and Balaggan — along with Grade 11 guard Natrone Gonzales. Even Grade 9 Travis Hamberger saw some minutes in crunch time.
“It’s tough for Bryce and Jordin who have been with this program since day one. I know as a player what it feels like for your high school career to end and I never made it this far as a player,” added Pecarsky.
McMath opened the championships with a wild 97-92 win over MEI. The Richmond champions were trailing by as many as 19 points in the opening quarter and even needed to rally late to get past the Abbotsford school. Mason led the way with 30 points and 16 rebounds. Radocaj added 22 points and 20 boards.
