The Richmond Colts not only proved they are for real Wednesday night, they have put themselves in a favourable position for next month’s Lower Mainland “AAA” Championships.
The Colts (3-1) came through with a big 74-70 home court win over the McNair Marlins (2-2) in a match-up of honourable mention ranked teams. That result, coupled with last month’s 80-75 victory against McMath, has them in the driver’s seat for a top two finish in the Richmond standings that will determine the Lower Mainland playoff seedings.
Richmond High held off a furious Marlins’ comeback after dominating much of the night. The hosts led 28-15 after one quarter and took a 19-point lead into halftime. The margin was 67-45 with seven minutes remaining when McNair made a late charge and actually missed a pair of three-point attempts in the dying seconds that would have tied the game.
“I have a few grey hairs after that,” laughed Colts coach Brandon Harbour. “McNair is one of the toughest teams we have played and we have a bit of a rivalry going with them. You can never count them out and it was a good learning experience.
“We’re super excited. I think people were counting us out at the start of the year but this is a good group with lots of potential.”
Harbour has come up with an impressive contingent of Grade 11s he began coaching three years ago.
Throw in some experienced seniors and this is a very athletic team that can run the floor and is fearless in attacking the basket.
Grade 11s Daniel Afanasivevskyy (23) and Murad Mohammed (22) combined with senior guard Philip Gundic (20) to look after the bulk of the Colts’ scoring.
“Transition is a big part of our game,” confirmed Harbour. “We have some guys who can shoot threes but mainly we want to get out and run and push the pace.”
The Marlins have been plagued by slow starts for much of the season and now it’s likely going to create a very difficult road come playoff time.
Their best case scenario in the Richmond League is finishing third and there is still plenty of work left to even achieve that.
“We don’t come out strong and keep putting ourselves in these big holes. Sometimes we wake up when it’s too late, like tonight,” sighed McNair coach Jessy Dhillon.
“We are just not taking care of the basketball. There are too many careless turnovers and guys are thinking it’s going to be a cakewalk too. Give Richmond High credit. They came to play today.
“Hopefully our guys start gelling together and we peak at the right time.”
Grade 11 guard Nathan Schroeder led the Marlins with a game-high 26 points. Talvinder Jadge added 16.
At the buzzer…
The only remaining unbeaten team in the Richmond Senior Boys League is the Cambie Crusaders, an honourable mention in the latest provincial “AA” rankings. They improved to 3-0 Wednesday with a 100-48 win over McRoberts. The Crusaders still have the teeth of their schedule remaining with games against Steveston-London (3-1), Richmond High, McMath (2-1) and McNair on the horizon.
The MacNeill Ravens (3-1) are tied for second place after their win over Palmer and are destined to return to the Mainland “AAA” playoffs after a one year hiatus. They handed the Colts their only league loss back on Dec. 5 and have pivotal games left with the Sharks, Marlins and Wildcats.
