With just three playing days left in the Richmond Senior Boys Basketball League’s regular season, seven of the eight playoff spots have yet to be finalized.
The unbeaten Steveston-London Sharks will be the host and top seed for next week’s city championships. After that, the picture remains unclear as teams jockey for their quarter-final playoff match-ups right up until the final game on Friday night.
The McNair Marlins continued their late season surge with a 78-68 come-from behind win over the Cambie Crusaders on Monday. The result gave the Marlins a 6-2 record, heading into their game with MacNeill (3-6) Tuesday night. They also host Richmond High (4-4) on Wednesday (7 p.m.). Win both and McNair will be no worse than the No. 3 seed thanks to having won head-to-head games with the RC Palmer Griffins and Cambie.
The game of the night Wednesday will take place at McMath where the Wildcats (7-2) will be looking to lockdown the No. 2 seed with a win over the Griffins. A loss could drop the Wildcats all the way down to fifth, while Palmer still has a shot at finishing second.
The lower seeds are up for grabs too with Richmond High and McRoberts currently tied for sixth with 4-4 records,. Even fifth place Cambie (5-3) has plenty of work ahead of them with games against the Sharks and McRoberts.
The Richmond Championships start next Tuesday with the Sharks likely taking on MacNeill at 2:15 p.m., followed by the other three quarter-final games.
At the buzzer…
McMath will take momentum into their big tilt with Palmer tonight after capturing their own Wildcat Classic on the weekend.
The hosts defeated Fleetwood Park 80-67 in the championship game, in what was a rematch of the 2015 final. The Dragons went on to win the provincial AAA title but the Surrey school has been moved up to the AAAA tier this season.
This year’s rematch saw the Wildcats in front from the outset, led by the terrific effort of Grade 10 Bryce Mason who locked up First Team All-Star honours. He was joined by Graham Flynn, while Ryan Yeung was named MVP. Ido Gortler was a Second Team selection.
McMath opened with a 70-54 win over Caledonia, then rolled past Gladstone 94-55.
