Mike Stoneburgh is dancing his way to the Langley Events Centre next week and he doesn’t mind one bit.
The longtime Steveston-London senior boys basketball coach is holding up to his end of the bargain after watching his upstart team secure a berth into the B.C. AAA Championships.
“I walked into the locker room in one of our last home games and they were playing some music and I started dancing a little bit,” chuckled Stoneburgh. “They all got jacked up about it and they wanted me to keep going. I said, ‘okay, if you guys want me to dance make provincials and I will dance.’ So that’s what I got to go and do right now.”
Locker room after the win over Richmond high. pic.twitter.com/kAqtHYr0CL
— SLSS Basketball (@SLSSBasketball) March 1, 2019
The Sharks were the surprise story of the Lower Mainland AAA Championships at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
They hung tough with top ranked Charles Tupper in the quarter-finals — leading by 10-points at one point — and have dominated teams in do-or-die consolation play since.
They rolled to a 66-40 win over the St. Thomas More Knights on Wednesday then were in control against the Richmond Colts from start to finish in a 74-51 victory 24 hours later.
The Sharks finished fourth in the city league play and bowed out in the semi-finals after giving the MacNeill Ravens a tough battle. They have struggled to find consistency but it has all come together at the right time of the year.
“I have been saying since early February no one counted us in. No one gave us chance to be here and we just used that motto,” continued Stoneburgh. “When we have played good teams we play them really tough. Lost by two to Argyle at Chancellor. Beat Centennial who is going to the 4A provincials.
“We haven’t got over that threshold in a couple of them where tonight we had a good game plan and the kids executed it. They played their hearts out and that’s the kind of game of been waiting to coach all year and it happened. I knew it was in us.”
First team city all-star Ethan Wight led the way Thursday with 20 points as the Sharks opened up a 43-29 halftime lead. Marco Wong paced the early surge with 14 of his 17 points. Umer Shazad added 12.
The loss ended a couple of rough days at the Oval for the city champion Colts that have had a depleted coaching staff since winning the Richmond final two weeks ago.
Steveston-London is heading back to the LEC for the first time in a couple years. They made back-to-back appearances led by Fardaws Aimaq — who is now playing at the NCAA Division One level at Mercer University — making the championship game in 2016.
