The Sharks will be lurking in 2016.
Steveston-London showed it will be a major force to contend with in the Richmond Senior Boys Basketball League next season after wrapping up an outstanding campaign with a fourth place finish at the Telus B.C. Junior Boys Championships at the Langley Events Centre.
A fixture in the provincial rankings all season, the Sharks lived up to their hype in the 32-team event.
Led by veteran coach Rory Brown, Steveston-London opened play with a pair of wins last Wednesday, defeating North Kamloops (58-49) and Lord Tweedsmuir (62-55). The boys then advanced to the final four with a 70-59 victory over Abbotsford’s Rick Hansen Hurricanes.
That result set the stage for a much-anticipated showdown with No. 1 seed Kitsilano. It was a tight game for much of the way before the Vancouver school opened up a fourth quarter lead in route to a 68-58 win.
With Brown ensuring his entire bench saw playing time, the Sharks closed out the competition by falling 71-59 to the upstart Walnut Gators in the third place game. The Langley school entered the championships seeded 14th and lost a narrow 53-50 decision to eventual champion Killarney in the semi-finals.
Post standout Fardaws Aimaq was named to the tournament first-all-star team. Ahmed Mohamud earned second team honours.
The McMath Wildcats were seeded 21st and fell 61-43 to Rick Hansen in their first round game. McMath then rebounded with consolation wins over WJ Mouat (60-57) and North Kamloops (62-52) before being edged 51-47 by Brentwood College.
The Wildcats closed out the tournament with a 47-38 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday. McMath was named the tournament’s most sportsmanlike team.
