A whopping seven Richmond senior boys basketball teams are headed to the Olympic Oval starting Monday for the Lower Mainland 'AA' and 'AAA' Championships.
Leading the local contingent are the McMath Wildcats and Richmond Colts who have advanced to the semi-finals of the "AAA" draw and are now just one win away from securing provincial berths.
The No. 2 seed Wildcats posted a 93-75 quarter-final victory over No. 7 Magee and will take on No. 3 Tupper on Wednesday (4:30 p.m.).
The No. 5 Colts will open the final four doubleheader with a 2:45 p.m. tilt against No. 1 seed Byrne Creek. Richmond rallied for a 93-77 win on the road against the No. 4 McNair Marlins last Wednesday.
Coming off winning their first city title in 13 years, the Wildcats got off to a slow start before eventually taking over thanks to a big third quarter that erased a 47-42 halftime deficit.
Bryce Mason led the charge with 36 points, including 11 in the third. Jordin Kojima added 18 and Victor Radocaj 16.
The Marlins were looking for their second win over the Colts in a week after the rivals clashed in the first round at the city championships. They opened up a 16-point first quarter lead before Richmond made a defensive adjustment and slowly gained control, led by the superb play of Murad Mohammed and point guard Ace Adano.
McNair pulled within six midway through the fourth quarter but would get no closer.
The Colts now take on a Byrne Creek team that is not only is the defending tournament champion but currently ranked No. 1 in the province.
The Marlins are still very much in the provincial tournament hunt. They defeated Prince of Wales 97-82 on Friday and move onto the Oval to take on city rival Steveston-London in a do-or-die battle slated for 2:45 p.m on Wednesday. The Sharks extended their season with an impressive 73-48 win over Point Grey Friday after falling 94-52 to Byrne Creek in the quarter-finals.
The winner of the Marlins/Sharks clash will face the semi-final loser of McMath/Tupper on Thursday. That side of the draw assures at least one Richmond team is headed to the Langley Events Centre next month for the B.C. "AAA" Championships. The Richmond High/Byrne Creek loser will play the winner of St. Thomas More/Magee, also on Thursday, that will determine another provincial berth.
Meanwhile, the McRoberts Strikers are also heading to the Oval next week for the Lower Mainland "AA" Championships thanks to their nail-biting 81-79 win over Cariboo Hill on Thursday night. The No. 9 seed Strikers will now face No. 1 King George on Monday at 2:45 p.m.
Other quarter-final action will see No. 4 seed RC Palmer taking on No. 5 Notre Dame at 4:30 p.m. No. 6 Cambie will battle No. 3 St. Pat's at 6:15 p.m. The eight teams are playing for three provincial "AA" berths with the final and third place games slated for Thursday.
