Last October, Mark Twyford was getting ready to coach junior girls basketball when an email changed his destiny.
The Richmond High graduate was asked to return to his old school to guide the senior boys team he once played for. On Thursday night, Twyford joined the elite company of his former legendary coach by making the Colts the toast of the city once again.
Richmond captured its first championship in 15 years with a thrilling 91-89 victory over the McMath Wildcats before a jam packed gym at Burnett Secondary. The exhilarating final was a perfect ending to a wild eight-team tournament that more than lived up to the hype.
“I played for Bill (Disbrow) in 1989-90 and to win this again is special,” smiled Twyford. “I have so many people to thank, starting with (former coach) Les Brown who gave me this opportunity in the first place. My brother Matt has been a huge support (as an assistant coach). I never could have done this by myself.”
Having spent 11 years in Japan, Twyford had gone nearly two decades without coaching until Jon Acob arranged for him to take on the Grade 9 girls team at McMath last season. The on-call teacher in the Richmond School District was going to continue with the same group until he received an email from Brown.
“I just couldn’t pass this up,” he continued. “I have two young kids and my wife is still in Japan so I bring them to a lot of games and practices. That’s what I mean when I say everybody has played a big part in this.”
The city championships proved be a carry over of a regular season that featured plenty of tight games and parity the league has never seen before. As many as four other teams could have been hoisting the championship trophy had the chips fallen their way.
The Colts had their hands full in a 76-74 opening round win over eight-time defending champion RC Palmer in the opening round. They then outlasted a good Cambie team 97-87.
The Wildcats went unbeaten in league play but nearly were bounced in the opening round, holding off a young Steveston-London Sharks team, 84-83. McMath then needed a furious fourth quarter comeback to erase a double-digit deficit and edge the McNair Marlins 74-73 in a battle of top 10 ranked AAA teams.
Richmond High came out firing in the championship game, opening up a 31-21 lead after one quarter. However, the Colts looked to be in big time trouble when Grade 10 standout and leading scorer Jon Mikhlin turned his ankle and was done for the night.
The Wildcats began to take over, led by the spectacular play of city MVP Anthony Demch, and seemed on the verge of securing their first Richmond title in nine years.
However, the Colts kept hanging around, thanks mainly to some clutch three-point shooting, including their 6-foot-5 Grade 11 post Jeremy Bariso. It set the stage for a remarkable final quarter that saw the teams routinely exchanging haymakers and neither refusing to back down.
The Colts took the lead on Cody Pidhaichuk’s free throw in the final minute and turned back McMath on its last two possessions, including a missed three-pointer at the buzzer.
“It’s our never quit, never say die attitude,” said Twyford of the second half comeback. “We have been down in games before during the season and won a lot of close games too so that really helped us tonight.
“We have had to play without Jon a couple of times and all season long we have had guys banged up or injured. We are use to saying ‘next guy off the bench, it’s your turn to step up.’ Someone is always filling in that role and willing to take it on.”
Next up for the Colts is the AAAA Lower Mainland Championships where they are expected to see a steady diet of top ranked teams. Twyford is looking forward to the challenge.
“The goal of our program is to shoot high and we have seen a lot of the top teams already this season. We have played well against some and rotten against others. But it has also helped us improve a lot.”
The league all-star awards based on regular season play included:
MVP: Anthony Demch (McMath).
First Team All-Stars: Anthony Demch (McMath), Kevin Yang (McNair), Jonathan Mikhlin (Richmond), Arnold Macalipay (McRoberts), Justin Dhillon (Cambie).
Second Team All-Stars: Jess Mason (McMath), Owen Vint (McNair), Tristan Ordonez (Richmond), Nigel Boyd (Steveston-London), Denzel De Jesus (MacNeill).
Third Team All-Stars: Balraj Saran (McNair), Graham Flynn (McMath), Tarn Dhaliwal (Cambie), Marko Stojanovic (Palmer), Evan Lee (McRoberts).
