McMath Wildcats capped a perfect run through city play to be crowned Richmond Bantam boys basketball champions but not before one more terrific battle with their biggest rival.
The Wildcats held off host McNeill Ravens 51-48 last Friday in front of a near capacity crowd. Both teams head to next week’s Vancouver and District Championships on the North Shore. Third place finishers Steveston-London can also advance if they win a wild card game on Feb. 14.
The final was a see-saw battle from start-to-finish with McMath overcoming a two-point halftime deficit to take a 41-36 lead into the fourth quarter. Twice, the Ravens missed three-point attempts in the dying seconds that would have sent the game to overtime.
The result was similar to the regular season meeting between the two teams, just nine days earlier, that saw the Wildcats prevail 58-54 to complete an 8-0 run in league play. The Ravens finished at 7-1.
The road to the city title also included a 60-46 semi-final win over Steveston-London, while MacNeill advanced by holding off the Richmond Colts, 52-47.
The Wildcats roster includes: Travis Hamberger, Jacob Araujo, Nick Kennedy, Josh Higo, Ben Falk, Kenneth Wong, Justin Zhang, Rio Hintchful, Aiden Hintson, Michael Kitka, Estanley Angeles, Miguel Vargas, Elias Khan and Aaron Bhatti.
The team is coached by Bik Chatha with assistants Garth Anderson and Mark Vargas. Chatha now has won four city basketball titles during his coaching career — two at Bantam, one at Juvenile and another at Senior girls. He also enjoyed an impressive run with the McMath senior boys, highlighted by a fourth place finish at the B.C. AAA championships two years ago.
McMath also captured the Richmond Juvenile boys title last week, completing a perfect run with a 75-49 win over the Richmond Colts in the title game. Both teams head to the V&Ds next week in Burnaby/New West. Third place finisher MacNeill will play a wildcard game to try and advance as well.
