For the second time in two years, the Kelowna Owls were defeated from the B.C. Provincial Basketball Championships finals to secure the province’s silver medal title.
On March 7, after cruising through the tournament’s quarter and semifinals, the No. 3 seed Owls were pitted up against the No. 1 seed Burnaby South Rebels in the AAAA provincial finals. KSS kept up with the Rebels until late in the second quarter where Burnaby South peeled off a 12-5 run to roll to a 70-58 win.
The Rebels held the Owls to just 55 points the last time the two teams played at the Western Canada Tournament in Kelowna in February by using size mismatches and limiting the Owls’ 3-point shooting efficiency.
In the finals, the Owls were once again unable to battle past the Rebels’ size advantage and shot just 12 for 47 from beyond the arc, a usual Owls strength.
Kelowna’s Hunter Simson had 14 points while Johnathon Haughton notched 10 points.
At the tournament awards, Simson was named First Team All-Stars while Haughton, as well as Kelowna’s Malcom Greggor, were selected as Second Team All-Stars.
In the AAA division, Vernon Secondary was only one basket away from punching a ticket to their respective championships, but the Panthers fell in the dying minutes to the G.W. Graham Grizzlies to miss advancing to the finals.
The Panthers would then finish 4th in the province after a tight 68-65 loss in the consolation finals to Vancouver’s Sir Charles Tupper.
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The Kelowna Christian School Knight’s offence was stuck in the mud in their semifinals 72-34 loss to the No.3 seed Unity Christian Flames.
The Knights were led by Jake Sabbagh’s 14 points and 19 rebounds, but the Okanagan team couldn’t keep up to the Flames hot offence and strict defence.
KCS would then finish 3rd in the single-A division after an 88-56 win over the Fernie Falcons.
The George Elliot Coyotes of Lake Country, a usual provincial powerhouse, came into the AA division as the 14th seed in B.C. After getting the upset win in round one of the tournament, the Coyotes were stumped in round two’s 77-76 loss to Lambrick Park of Victoria.
George Elliot would then go on to finish 6th in the province after a 83-75 loss to North Vancouver’s St. Thomas Aquinas.
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