Steveston-London places 5th at B.C. championships

Steveston-London Sharks capped an outstanding season with a fifth place finish at last week's B.C. Boys Grade 9 Basketball Championships, hosted by Kitsilano secondary school.

The Richmond champion Sharks entered the 16-team event as the No. 8 seed after being edged by the Richmond Colts at the Vancouver and District Championships.

Steveston-London opened the tournament with a thrilling 51-50 victory over No. 9 Brockelhurst. The locals then dropped a 69-42 decision to top seed and eventual champion Kitsilano, before rolling off two more wins to close out the championships. They toppled No. 4 Vancouver College 60-58, then slipped past No. 2 Terry Fox 54-52.

In addition to the impressive showing, the Sharks received the Duncan Anderson Sportsmanship Award. After each game, the referees gave the team/coach a score out of 15. Steveston-London received a perfect score - marking only the third time that has happened. The Sharks were coached by 2013 SLSS alumni Malcolm Lee and Deion Adaza and current Grade 12 student Ibrahim Warsame.

Ahmed Mohamud and Fardaws Aimaq received all-star honour mentions for their

outstanding play. The roster also featured: Isaiah Hunter, Jerome Fernandez, Daniel Chen, Ryan Curtis, Emilio Cardenas, Jacky Liu, Michael Mendoza, Zach Cantwell, Craig Johnston, Jonah Pang, Nicolas Miu Steven Zhou and Jacob Ong.

Meanwhile, the Colts finished in 10th place after closing out the tournament with a 54-46 loss to Vancouver College. The No. 3 seed had opened with 58-56 win over Sentinel, before falling 36-31 in the quarterfinals to Lord Byng. Richmond High was then edged 58-52 by Terry Fox. Jonathan Mikhlin was named a Third Team All-Star.

The MacNeill Ravens made it three teams in the provincial tournament - capping a banner year in the city for this age group.

The No. 10 seed Ravens opened with a 56-33 loss to No. 7 Tamanawis, then rebounded with a 59-15 victory against St. Johns. The Ravens closed out play with losses to Sentinel (61-44) and New West (53-45).

At the buzzer...

Steveston-London and Cambie competed at the B.C. Grade 9 Girls Basketball Championships, hosted by Britannia secondary. The Sharks were seeded ninth and dropped a 35-30 decision to Heritage Woods in their opening game. The girls bounced back with a 48-23 win over Windermere, then cruised past Riverside 60-41. They settled for 10th after being edged 32-30 by Argyle. Nicole Canave was a allstar honourable mention.

The No. 13 seed Crusaders hung tough with No. 4 Vedder Middle in their opener, dropping a 33-22 decision. They were then edged 43-41 by Riverside before defeating Windermere 41-37. Cambie closed out the tournament with a narrow 25-24 loss to Chilliwack in a battle for 13th. The Crusaders were also named the tournament's most sportsmanlike team.