Mike Stoneburgh is no fan of scoreboard watching in December.
His Steveston-London Sharks are back on track for a first place finish in the Richmond Senior Boys Basketball League thanks to a key 89-75 win over the McNair Marlins last week and some valuable help elsewhere.
The Richmond Colts capped a wild opening two weeks of league play by rallying to surprise the McMath Wildcats 80-75. That result came eight days after the Wildcats upset the Sharks — leaving all the expected frontrunners with one loss each heading into the new year.
The other key early season match-up last week saw the Cambie Crusaders defeat RC Palmer 81-71 in a battle of the city’s top “AA” teams.
All these early season results are much more significant now that league games will determine playoff seedings for the Lower Mainland Championships in February — not the city playoffs.
A Sharks’ loss to the Marlins would have meant a difficult draw in what is expected to be a highly competitive and deep “AAA” Mainland playoff tournament this season.
“That was our big (pre-game) talk today,” said Stoneburgh. “I told the guys if we lose we are very likely going to be third.
“I’m just not happy with the way they decided to go with the seedings for Lower Mainlands this year and I was vocal with the (athletic directors) about it. I agree you want to make the league games more important but to make them count for the next tournament (beyond the city playoffs)? You could have a bad loss in December and it could screw your season.”
Stoneburgh also believes the significance of the city championships will be somewhat diminished.
“They want these games to mean something but that’s why we have a playoff system,” continued Stoneburgh. “Still (one of the nine teams) will not make the playoffs. You have to win games. If this happens again next year, I’m moving all my games to January. We will not have a league game in December.”
It’s been an up-an-down opening month for the Sharks, including an 82-62 loss to No. 1 ranked Lord Byng last Thursday. Steveston-London was not at full strength — playing without starting point guard Daniel Chen.
They will get a taste of elite Seattle basketball at the end of the month at the Tournament of Champions, hosted by Franklin High.
“This is about giving our kids exposure to that kind of basketball. It will be a learning experience,” added Stoneburgh. “The competition in Seattle is amazing.”
Meanwhile, the Marlins are in Kona this week for the WYBT Hawaii Invitational.
“It’s a trip we have talked about doing for years. Our alumni are jealous,” laughed McNair coach Jessy Dhillon. “It shows how this program is growing and we are going places.”
The Marlins hung tough with Steveston-London for much of the night despite Grade 12 standout Talvinder Jadge being slowed by bronchitis. Helping pick up the scoring slack was Grade 11 Puneet Basra. McNair climbed within eight points early in the fourth quarter.
“Just like last year, we have kind of started out slow,” added Dhillon. “It’s a process. But this is a deeper team (than a year ago) and we have guys chomping at the bit wanting to play.”
The Wildcats basked in the glory of earning a provincial top 10 ranking for about five days before blowing a 16-point lead against Richmond High.
“We stopped playing defence and they just wanted it way more than us,” said McMath coach Tony Wong-Hen.
The Wildcats also dropped three games at the Rick Hansen Invitational on the weekend but were playing without Grade 11 standout Bryce Mason and promising Grade 9 Victor Radocaj.
