It was another spectacular performance by one of the most dominating post players to come out of Richmond in at least the last two decades. Yet, Fardaws Aimaq was more excited about what his teammates were doing around him.
The 6-foot-10 standout poured in 42 points as the host Steveston-London Sharks pulled out a thrilling 80-75 overtime victory against the Lord Byng Grey Ghosts in the boys championship game Saturday at the Bob Carkner Memorial Classic.
Aimaq collected tournament MVP honours then quickly adverted the attention to the team performance in what easily was the Sharks’ biggest win to date in a showdown of top 10 ranked heavyweights.
Steveston-London began the season ranked No. 1 but had slipped to No. 9 in the most recent poll mainly due to their inconsistent play, including an 82-62 exhibition loss to the Grey Ghosts back on Dec. 15.
“The biggest thing going into this game was wanting to play hard and that’s what we talked about,” said Aimaq. “The first time we played these guys we came out a little soft. We played their style of play and not Steveston-London basketball. Tonight, the way we came out, we shared the ball, were passing it around and even our defensive movements were good.”
Aimaq has already received offers from schools on both sides of the border. He wrote his SATs last week and will make his decision sometime after the season. There is still plenty of work to do and that’s where his focus will be.
“This is a huge momentum booster for us,” he added. “I’m excited to try and get back to the big tourney. Last year, guys like Daniel (Chen) and Ahmed (Mohamud) weren’t necessarily the main guys but they showed tonight how they can step up and that’s huge, especially for me if I’m not having a good night. I know they’ve got my back.”
It took key contributions from all five starters to put away a Lord Byng team that stormed back in the late going to nearly claim the title.
The Sharks led by double digits for much of the night before the Vancouver school found its touch from three-point range in a big way. They erased a 55-44 fourth quarter deficit and took their first lead of the night on Simon Cutler’s three-point play with under two minutes left. It was 67-64 with 1.3 seconds remaining when Chen clutched up to hit a deep three to send the game to overtime.
That’s when Mohamud heated up from long distance, hitting a trio of three-pointers to put the Sharks back in control for good. Chen and Mohamud were named tournament all-stars, along with Zach Cantwell who scored eight points and has thrived since moving into a starting role. Isaiah Hunter’s defensive work and distribution also can’t be ignored. He even chipped in with 11 points in the final.
So have the Sharks’ finally turned the corner? Head coach Mike Stoneburgh believes so and he saw it for the first time one night earlier in a dominating 93-47 semi-final win over Valleyview of Kamloops.
“Yesterday was a big turning point for us,” he said. “We took that game over by all five starters contributing at the same time. We were doing everything as a team and realizing how important that was. Hopefully we can keep this going.”
Stoneburgh also had praise for Quinn Whyte who gave the team valuable minutes in overtime after Cantwell fouled out.
The teams could very well meet again this weekend at the Robert Bateman Tournament in Abbotsford. The Sharks and Grey Ghosts will be joined by other provincial ranked teams, including Byrne Creek, Rick Hansen and Bateman. The McNair Marlins are also participating. Byng defeated Byrne Creek 66-62 in the Carkner semi-finals.
