It took bringing some provincial heavyweights to their own gym for the McMath Wildcats to show just exactly what they are capable of.
Facing a steady diet of elite AAA senior boys basketball teams, the hosts captured the annual Wildcat Invitational with an entertaining 77-71 come-from-behind win over the No. 3 ranked Fleetwood Park Dragons on Saturday afternoon.
The victory capped a perfect 4-0 run over the three-day event, including an 89-77 victory against the No. 1 Abbotsford Panthers. The results will no doubt move the No. 6 Wildcats up the rankings when they are released later this week.
McMath has been a fixture in the top 10 since the start of the season and are also cruising along in Richmond League play with an 8-0 record heading into the final week of action. Yet, head coach Bik Chatha wanted to see something more out of his team.
He witnessed an uninspiring performance at last month’s Chancellor Tournament where the Wildcats were bounced out in the quarter-finals, then humbled 73-49 by the No. 2 ranked St. Thomas More Knights in consolation play.
The Dragons seemed determined to spoil the hometown party when they lit up the Wildcats’ zone defence for 32 points in the opening 10 minutes to take a 16 point lead. However, an aggressive man-to-man defence cooled off the Surrey visitors over the final three quarters and McMath chipped away at the deficit — eventually jumping out in front for good in the final quarter.
“The guys just persevered,” said Chatha. “We started a 2-3 zone the last time we played them (and won) but they were just shredding it apart. We seemed to play better in (man-to-man) defence and it was an unbelievable performance on our guys part.”
Impressive Grade 11 point guard Ido Gortier led the comeback on his way to securing tournament MVP honours. Anthony Demch had another strong outing after pouring in 41 points in the win over Abbotsford. The senior earned a spot on the first all-star team.
The road to the title also included wins over Britannia (73-57) and NorKam (86-73). Momentum has been established for the upcoming post-season and Chatha warns his team has no time to rest on its laurels.
“We are happy (with the result) but by no means are we satisfied,” he said. “I think we can still play better, especially defensively, and we need to start games the way we finish them.
“Against Abbotsford, we managed to put it all together but teams are so tough in triple ‘A’ and when you get to the top (teams), the differences are so slight.”
Chatha would love another crack at STM in the Lower Mainland playoffs but first must focus on what is expected to be a highly competitive city championships, starting next week at Burnett. That’s where another meeting with the McNair Marlins looms. The teams met in the season opener with McMath winning 75-70. The Marlins have not lost since and enter this week’s play with the same ranking as the Wildcats.
“STM tore us apart last time and we would look forward to the opportunity to play them again,"Chatha added. "McNair has lost only two all season like us and that potentially could be a real tough game.
“Basically, we have to play like this all the time to get where we want to go.”
