It’s eight in a row and still counting for the RC Palmer Griffins.
The Paul Eberhardt coached squad continued their dominance of the Richmond Senior Boys Basketball League with an 84-69 win over the McMath Wildcats in Thursday night’s championship game played in front of a packed gym at Burnett secondary.
The Griffins used a huge second half performance from Antonio Jhuty to pull away after taking a 38-34 lead into the locker room. The Grade 12 guard showed why he is one of the most prolific scorers in school history by putting on a shooting clinic from the perimeter — hitting a number of deep threes en route to a 34-point performance. Point guard Gurjit Pooni was also terrific, finishing with 23 points and 13 assists.
In arguably the deepest playoff tournament in its near 20-year history, the eight team event lived up to the hype with some closely contested games from start to finish.
After going 7-3 in league play, the Griffins opened with a 90-87 quarter-final win over the Richmond Colts, then got past the MacNeill Ravens 78-66. It was the Ravens first loss this season in city play after going 9-0 in the regular season before defeating Cambie, 82-65.
The Wildcats also had a tough road to the final, outlasting Hugh Boyd 65-60 in the opening round before cooling off the red hot McNair Marlins 67-54 in a battle between a pair of top 10 ranked 3A teams.
Palmer and MacNeill move onto next week’s Lower Mainland AA Championships which will be hosted by the Ravens. Both top 10 ranked schools are favoured to earn the two provincial berths that will be up for grabs.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats, Marlins, McRoberts Strikers, Trojans and Steveston-London Sharks will be competing in the Lower Mainland AAA Championships which will determine four provincial berths. The Colts will be the lone representative in the Lower Mainland AAAA Tournament. For the first time ever, both events will conclude at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
At the buzzer....
Coaches had high praise for the staff and students at Burnett for their efforts in hosting the championships for the second straight year. They have taken the event to another level complete with team posters, tournament program and even game hosts that welcome spectators to the school.
