No matter what happens going forward at the single-A boys basketball high school championship, it’s all gravy to the Cedars Christian Eagles.
For the first time in their school history, the Eagles have booked themselves a spot in the provincial semifinals.
The survived a rocky beginning Thursday in the quarterfinal round and fell behind Aberdeen Hall Gryphons of Kelowna in the opening few minutes and rebounded to a 91-82 victory.
“We bent but we didn’t break, terrible start to the game,” said Eagles head coach Jeff Ludditt. “But we knew once we got comfortable we would be able to work our way back into it . Our style gives them trouble so we stuck to it, driving, kicking, shooting. Our defence was our key.”
A 29-point outburst from Tony Kibonge, backed by dual 24-point efforts from Mitch Crosina and Seth Hulk, paved the way for the Eagles. Kyler Assam shot a team-high 28 for the 11th-seeded Gryphons, who finished third in the Okanagan zone.
Cedars led 25-18 after one quarter, but the Condors’ edge dwindled down to just one point and they led 42-41 at the half. The Eagles built a 70-60 cushion after 30 minutes and the Gryphons got it down to six points at one point in the fourth quarter but ran out of time and were forced to foul.
The previous best provincial finish for Cedars came two years ago when they placed seventh.
Cedars Christian doubled up on No. 14 Khalsa Lions of Surrey in their opening game Wednesday, winning 90-44.
Kibonge led the way with 23 points, while Hulka had 20.
Seeded third at the 16-team tournament in Langley, the Eagles will take on the No. 2-ranked Glenlyon Norfolk Gryphons in their semifinal Friday at 3:30 p.m. Glenlyon advanced with a 74-44 win over the Barriere Cougars.
Meanwhile, in the triple-A boys tournament, also in Langley, the Duchess Park Condors kept their title hopes alive with an 81-68 triumph over No. 6 Byrne Creek of Burnaby. Cole Laing delivered a 23-point game for Duchess, while Aiden Lewis hit five threes on his way to a 17-point game. Evgeny Baukin also reached double figures with 14 points.
Laing was especially hot in the second quarter, when he nailed 14 points.
Duchess Park led 20-9 after the first quarter and extended that to 44-24 at the half.
The North Central zone-champion Condors, who won the silver medal in 2020, the most recent year the tournament was played, advance to the semifinals against No. 2-seeded Elgin Park of Surrey Friday at 3:30 p.m.
On Wednesday, the Condors topped 14th-seeded St. Michael’s University of Victoria 65-47. Laing stoked the Condor offence with 21 points, while Lewis and Adam Sieben each scored 13 for Duchess Park.
In the double-A championship, also being played in Langley, the No. 11 Nechako Valley Vikes of Vanderhoof evened their record to 1-1 after a 73-53 victory Thursday over the High Boyd Trojans of Richmond.
The Vikes, the lone North Central entry in the 16-team tournament in Langley, dropped an 82-54 decision Wednesday to No. 6 Pacific Academy.
Brendon McKee put up 14 points for the Vikes and Brecken Fawcett had a 12-point game.
Nechako Valley will play No. 7 Charles Hays Friday at noon. The winner moves on to a playoff against the Langley Christian-Summerland winner to decide ninth place Saturday at 11:30 p.m.
Two other North Central zone teams are entered in the 16-team single-A tournament.
The 12th-seeded Fort St. James Falcons lost their opener 68-51 to No. 5 Kelowna Christian, despite a 20-point performance from Caden Olund and 11 points from Tyler McVey. The Falcons took on No. 13 Pemberton Thursday afternoon and scored an 83-73 victory.
Fort St. James will face Nanaimo Christian Friday at noon. The winner of that game will face the Meadowridge-King David winner for ninth place Saturday at 8:30 a.m.
The 15th-seeded Northside Christian Northstars of Vanderhoof lost their opener 92-32 Wednesday to Glenlyon Norfolk. Marek Durupt collected 15 points for the Northstars. Northside then dropped to 0-2 Thursday after a 53-34 loss to No. 7 Meadowridge Gryphons of Maple Ridge. The Northstars will try to find the win column Friday at 10 a.m. when they meet Khalsa.
