It’s taken a week for the Cambie Crusaders to prove they are easily the most improved team in the Richmond Senior Boys Basketball League.
Coming off a 1-8 regular season campaign a year ago, the Crusaders served notice in their league opener with an impressive 95-69 win over eight-time defending champion RC Palmer. They then proceeded to place second at their own Cambie Classic Tournament, falling 79-65 to McNair in Saturday’s championship game.
The Marlins, sitting at No. 10 in the latest provincial AAA rankings and poised to climb higher, took control of the final with a big second quarter to erase an early Cambie lead. They were led by Grade 12 guard Kevin Yang who earned tournament MVP honours. Owen Vint was named to the all-star team.
The Crusaders reached the final with an 89-70 win over Gladstone. Justin Dhillon led the way with a rare quadruple double — scoring 26 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, dishing out 14 assists and creating 11 steals. Riley Paulik added 18 points and seven rebounds, while Levin Ursel (12) and Tam Dhaliwal (11) also hit for double figures. Dhillon, Ursel and Paulik were later named tournament all-stars.
Cambie had opened the tournament with a 65-53 win against Seycove.
McNair’s road to the championship began with an impressive 90-73 win over AAA No. 7 Byrne Creek. The Marlins then won a hard-fought battle against Argyle in the semi-finals, 73-68.
Palmer was also part of the eight-team event, opening with a 73-54 loss to Arygle before rebounding with wins over Byrne Creek (82-77) and Seycove (71-64).
Action in the Richmond league this week includes three games Monday night — McNair at Steveston-London, MacNeill at Boyd and McRoberts at Richmond High. In the final games before the holiday break on Wednesday, Burnett visits Boyd, Richmond Christian is at McMath and Steveston-London travels to Palmer.
All games start at 7:30 p.m.
