MacNeill Ravens thrived on their home court to be crowned Richmond Junior Boys Basketball champions.
In front of a boisterous crowd, the Ravens held off the Richmond Colts 55-48 on Wednesday night to cap a terrific three days of action.
The Colts stormed back from an early 10-3 deficit and led 14-10, before taking a 24-20 advantage into halftime. A big third quarter for the Ravens, thanks to their work at the defensive end of the floor, resulted in a 14-point swing.
Richmond High made one last surge to cut the deficit to four points before some poised play by MacNeill down the stretch secured the win. Jackson Thackwray led the hosts with 17 points, which included going 10-for-10 from the free throw line. Tanner Devlin chipped in with 12 and Josh Chahal eight. All three are in Grade 9.
The complete team effort saw all 14 players on the Ravens' roster contribute at least three minutes of playing time.
"Our kids have really taken pride in our defense and that's probably the reason for our success," said MacNeill co-coach Steward Siy.
The Ravens' roster also includes: Omar Abumallouh, Ben Estrellado, Hudson Swain, Leo Yang, Daniel Salazar, Justin Jawanda, Wesley Hung, Everett Ho, Difu Wang, Miguel Salvador and Adrian Peralta. Peter Thackwray, Ben Mayan and Landon Dy round out the coaching staff.
Both teams move on to Handsworth Secondary in North Vancouver next week for the Vancouver and District Championships. They will be joined by the Steveston-London Sharks thanks to their 50-39 win over Boyd in the third place game.
The tournament took a dramatic turn on Tuesday thanks to big semi-final wins for the Colts and Ravens. Richmond handed previously unbeaten Boyd a 58-35 loss, while MacNeill slipped past the second place Sharks 47-40.
Meanwhile, there were also some big upsets in last week’s junior girls city championships.
The Burnett Breakers edged the McMath Wildcats 35-33 in the title game. The two teams had gone 1-5 and 1-4 respectively in regular season play. The Breakers advanced with a 43-37 win over MacNeill, while McMath got past second place Palmer 40-34.
The Griffins earned the final spot into next week’s V&D Championships in West Vancouver after defeating the Ravens 37-33.
In Juvenile Girls, the host Steveston-London Sharks and the McMath Wildcats could very well continue their growing rivalry at the V&D playoffs.
The Sharks completed an undefeated season in Richmond thanks to a thrilling 38-37 win over the Wildcats in last week’s city final.
The two teams will be joined at the V&Ds by McRoberts thanks to their 52-27 win over Boyd. The championship game goes next Friday at 5:30 p.m.