The College Heights Cougars found their winning stride Friday at the BC triple-A boys basketball provincial championship at Langley Events Centre.
They beat the Caledonia Kermodes of Terrace 61-41 for their first win after two losses to start the 16-team tournament.
North Central zone MVP Tolu Bankole scored 12 points in the first quarter to stake the Cougars to a 14-10 lead after 10 minutes and they stretched that gap to 26-18 by the half.
Bankole collected a game-high 23 points and Jeona Gill had 17 to move College Heights into the 13th-place playoff Saturday at 1:15 p.m. against Edward Milne Wolverines of Sooke.
Meanwhile, in the double-A boys tournament, also being played in Langley, Grade 9 forward Zeke Ferguson provided the margin of victory for the Nechako Valley Vikings of Vanderhoof in a 65-63 thriller over the Fernie Falcons.
Ferguson drew a foul in the dying seconds of the game and nailed both his free throws. The Falcons had just come back to tie the game with consecutive buckets that wiped out the Vikings’ 63-59 lead.
Player of the game Dwayne Mueller finished with a team-high 16 points for the Vikings, backed by Kole Shoesmith’s 15 points and 10-point game from Thomas Cross.
Nechako Valley will play for 13th against Charles Hays Rainmakers pf Prince Rupert Saturday at 1 p.m.
In the quad-A tournament, the Prince George Polars finished up their tournament with a 79-66 loss to the Mount Baker Wild of Cranbrook in the 15th-place playoff Friday afternoon.
It was the second loss of the day for PGSS (0-4), who fell 94-74 in a morning game Friday to the Semiahmoo Thunderbirds of Surrey. Conor Burbee Harsh Cheema and Rvnoor Thandi each shot 14 points for the Polars, while JB Burguillos hit for 13.
In single-A boys action, Graham Yoder accounted for nearly half his team’s offence with a 36-point effort to lead the Northside Christian Northstars of Vanderhoof to a 73-50 victory over the Ucluelet Warriors.
With that win, Northside (1-2) advances to the 13th-place game Saturday at 9 a.m. against St. Ann’s Academy Crusaders of Kamloops.
The Eagles (0-3) lost 55-43 Friday to St. Ann’s Academy.
Kaden Paulsen led the Eagles with 13 points, Neil Henderson had 12 and Joshua Olatunbosun finished with nine.
Cedars will face Ucluelet in the 15th-place playoff Saturday at 8:45 a.m.
