The Steveston-London Sharks will turn their attention some pivotal league games over the next two weeks after overtime heartbreak at their own Bob Carkner Memorial Classic.
The senior boys basketball team was just seconds away from advancing to Saturday’s championship game yet settled for fifth place in the eight-team tournament.
Marco Dasovic’s buzzer-beating three-pointer gave the Alpha Aztecs an 87-86 win over the Sharks in Friday night’s semi-final. Dasovic happens to be the son of Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame member Nick Dasovic who was named coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps U23 development team earlier in the day.
Steveston-London then fell to city rival and the ever-improving Hugh Boyd Trojans in Saturday’s third place game. Defending champion Lord Byng needed overtime to defeat Alpha 75-66 in the title game.
The highly competitive three-day event reminded the Sharks what they are up against in the coming month. They could see Alpha again or even Byng at the Lower Mainland 3A Championships but first they got secure their trip to the Richmond Olympic Oval.
That starts as soon as this week with key league games against Cambie on Wednesday and rival McMath Thursday. Steveston-London will enter those contests with a 4-1 record and winning both would set-up big meeting with the unbeaten MacNeill Ravens (6-0) next Monday at the Shark Tank.
The podium finish ended a terrific week for the Trojans. They also produced key league wins over McNair and Cambie to improve to 4-2 and are headed back to the city playoffs for the first time in five years as no worse than a No. 5 seed.
They fell 83-67 to Byng in the Carkner semi-finals after opening with win over Windermere. The Sharks defeated Langley 97-49 in their opener.
