Talk about slaying a dragon.
Jordin Kojima had a career night in a gym he had struggled in the previous five years to help the McMath Wildcats at last breakthrough as Richmond senior boys basketball champions.
The Grade 12 guard poured in 41 points, including 29 in the first half, as the Wildcats cruised to a 103-79 win over the McNair Marlins in front of an estimated crowd of 300 on Thursday night at Richmond Secondary.
It was McMath’s first city title since 2005 after four straight runner-up finishes.
At a school where his dad Trevor played for one of the great Colt teams in 1980s, Kojima had little in the way of success, dating all the way back to his Grade 8 year. However, it was evident in the early going it was going to be a different script this time.
He was unconscious from the perimeter and finished the opening quarter with 15 points as the Wildcats raced out to a 32-20 lead. The onslaught continued over the next 10 minutes and McMath took a commanding 57-31 lead into halftime. For good measure, Kojima drained another three to start the third.
“I have probably never scored more than 10 points in this gym,” smiled the two-time city first team all-star. “I just really thought I was cursed here. I came in here and shot a couple of hours before the game. I don’t know but that seemed to do it.”
It was an all-round performance that reassured the Wildcats as a legitimate provincial favourite.
Despite going unbeaten through Richmond play, they struggled in an 80-70 opening round win against a feisty Steveston-London team and didn’t look dominant in the semi-final triumph over Cambie either. However, the inside presence of Bryce Mason and Victor Radocaj, along with a strong perimeter game, makes it awfully tough on opponents.
Coaches Max Pecarsky, Ricky Hernandez and Tony Wong-Hen hammered home how previous McMath teams had reach this game before only to come up short.
“We pulled them aside to let them know four teams have been here and how do you guys want to be remembered? As a team that finally put a banner up for a city championship or that group that almost did it?” said Hernandez. “The boys played well. Jordin came out and played his best game of the season.
“Because we can go inside out, it’s pretty tough when both games are going for us. When the gears are turning we are a really scary team.”
The Wildcats will need to be firing on all-cylinders at the Lower Mainland “AAA” Championships where they are expected to be the No. 2 seed behind defending champion and top-ranked Byrne Creek. A year ago, their bid for a B.C. berth ended with a loss to St. Thomas More in the third place game at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
They will draw on that experience, especially seniors Mason and Kojima. Mason was a Grade 9 call-up when the Wildcats reached the B.C. semi-finals in 2015.
“The Oval is where I grew up playing. It’a going to be really fun,” said Mason, who spent much of the final icing a tender ankle. “It’s good to finally win this after four years.”
As for the Marlins, the loss spoiled an otherwise terrific week for a team that remarkably was making its first-ever appearance in the city final since the all-Richmond league was launched 23 years ago.
They pulled out a thrilling 90-87 opening round win over the host Colts then outlasted a good Palmer team 67-62 in the semi-finals. Their reward will be one of the top Mainland AAA seeds and an opportunistic chance of returning to the provincials for the second time in three years.
Grade 12 point guard Nathan Schroeder had 28 points in the final. Tejvir Gill added 21.
Colts Grade 12 standout Daniel Afanasiyevskyy was named league MVP after leading his team to a 9-1 regular season record. Richmond High and Steveston-London are also part of the AAA Mainland tourney that will determine its draw on Sunday. Palmer, Cambie and McRoberts head to the AA Mainlands.
The 2017-18 league all-stars are as follows:
First All-Star Team: Jordin Kojima (McMath), Bryce Mason (McMath), Andrew Reddy (Palmer), Nathan Schroeder (McNair), Murad Mohammed (Richmond).
Second All-Star Team: Johnny Fang (Steveston-London), Tejvir Gill (McNair), Victor Radocaj (McMath), Sorosh Sidiqi (Palmer), Sky Tan (MacNeill).
Third All-Star Team: Ace Adano (Richmond), Vaughn Gordon (Burnett), Rajen Sidhu (McRoberts), Quinn Whyte (Steveston-London).