The McNair Marlins are headed back to the B.C. AAA Basketball Championships for the third consecutive year when few thought they would even be a factor in the Richmond Senior Boys Basketball League.
“I know some people are already counting us out but I’m still expecting us to be one of the top seeds in the Richmond playoffs.”
Coach Jessy Dhillon’s somewhat bold prediction three months ago proved to be more than accurate for his upstart team.
Not only did the Marlins go on to finish with a solid 7-3 record, they were the surprise story at the Lower Mainland AAA Championships.
The 16-team tournament was expected to be an intense battle between six provincially ranked teams for just four B.C. berths.
Yet, by the end of do-or-die play on Thursday, it was the Marlins who had secured their spot at the Langley Events Centre with an impressive 82-75 victory over Vancouver League champion Windermere Warriors. That result came a day after McNair had defeated city rival and top 10 ranked McMath 76-57 for the first time in recent memory to end the Steveston school’s season.
They did it with a vastly different team than in previous years.
Ryan Angala is the lone senior who thrives as a leader and top scorer, earning First Team Lower Mainland All-Star honours in the process. Grade 10 point guard Nathan Schroeder plays beyond his years and will be a major force for the next two seasons, while a group of talented multi-sport Grade 11 athletes allow the Marlins to play an up-tempo pressure game.
Making this season’s run even more impressive was McNair deciding to stay at the AAA tier when the school’s current enrollment gave them the option play at the AA level.
“A lot of people were saying on the outside we should stick to ‘AA’ so we can go to provincials and have a chance at the championship,” said Dhillon. “We didn’t listen to anybody. We stuck it out and our goal was to go to provincials. We started out slow but we are peaking right now.”
No kidding.
The Marlins served notice in the Mainland quarter-finals when they lost a 75-74 heartbreaker to No. 2 seed Byrne Creek. They battled their way back into contention with a pair of victories, including the big result against McMath. Yet, they only had a few hours to savour the victory before focusing on another do-or-die game against a Windermere team that was coming off a semi-final loss to Steveston-London.
Led by Schroeder and Angala, McNair jumped out to a 44-32 halftime lead. The Warriors opened the third quarter on a 10-2 run and the Marlins looked to be in trouble. That’s when Grade 11s Talvinder Jadge and Jovan Dhillon picked up the offensive slack with some clutch perimeter shooting.
Jadge hit back-to-back threes to push the lead back up to seven points, while Dhillon clutched up in the fourth quarter with a pair of treys and another key basket. Both play Metro soccer for Richmond United and are key components to McNair’s very effective pressure defence.
“These guys are soccer players and for a lot of them, this is their (other) sport,” added Jessy Dhillon. “I’ve never been a coach to drill there is only one sport and that’s it. I was a soccer first (athlete) too and soccer players can see the court a lot differently.
“We can run and we don’t have to worry about cardio at practices either like other teams have to.”
The Marlins closed out the Mainlands with a 79-55 loss to Lord Byng to settle for the fourth seed. They will gain more valuable experience at provincials and this young squad won’t be sneaking up on anybody next season.
