Steveston-London basketball teams have pulled off the rare feat of sweeping the junior titles at the Vancouver and District Championships.
The Sharks followed up their Richmond championships by winning district banners last week.
The junior boys defeated North Shore champion Sentinel Spartans 65-54 in the final. The Sharks had opened the tournament with a 70-52 win over Handsworth, then slipped past New West 55-54. Six-foot-seven post standout Fardaws Aimaq scored the winning basket in the final minute of play.
Steveston-London is seeded fourth for this week’s B.C.Junior Boys Basketball Championships at the Langley Events Centre.
The Sharks open play Wednesday morning against North Kamloops. The 32-team tournament continues until Saturday. The McMath Wildcats have been seeded 21st and face 12th seed Rick Hansen in the opening round.
“We have been working very hard all year and made a point of playing a difficult schedule to prepare us for playing basketball in March,” said head coach Rory Brown. “We believe that if we play well and play together, we can compete with any team in B.C. this year.”
McMath nailed down the final B.C. berth thanks to an opening round 61-46 win over Burnaby North. The Wildcats then were edged 63-61 by Sentinel in the semi-finals, before falling 54-47 to New West in the third place game.
Meanwhile, coach Troy Takasaki had the Sharks junior girls well prepared after capturing the Richmond title, but the team faced a tough challenge against several big teams at the V&Ds.
Steveston-London opened the tournament with a 37-31 win over the perennially powerful Handsworth Royals before narrowly defeating Burnaby's Cariboo Hill Chargers 43-40 in the semi-finals.
The Sharks played their best basketball in the championship game, defeating North Shore champion Collingwood Cavaliers 53-36.
Steveston-London will not be going to the provincials as the invitational format in conflict to the V&D tournament.
