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Condors playing for provincial basketball gold

This time around, with a chance to play for a triple-A boys basketball provincial championship, the Duchess Park Condors would not be denied.
Ted Clarke
Condors pic
Caleb Lyons of the Duchess Park Condors runs into Noah Basas of the Sir Charles Tupper Tigers during semifinal action Friday at the triple-A boys basketball provincial championship in Langley. The Condors won 61-46 and will play the G.W. Graham Grizzlies of Chilliwack in Saturday's championship game.Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2020. All Rights Reserved. Requested permission

This time around, with a chance to play for a triple-A boys basketball provincial championship, the Duchess Park Condors would not be denied.

They threw a blanket over the Sir Charles Tupper Tigers of East Vancouver and bagged a chance to play for all the marbles in Saturday’s gold-medal final.

The top-ranked Condors beat the fourth-ranked Tigers 61-43 after holding their opponents to just nine points in each of the first and third quarters.

Duchess Park advances to the final Saturday at 6 p.m. against the No. 3 G.W. Graham Grizzlies of Chilliwack, who edged the No. 2 Vernon Panthers 50-49 in the other triple-A semifinal.

Jackson Kuc and Caleb Lyons each put up 15 points for the Condors.

Lyons, Grade 11 guard, went 4-for-5 from three-point range. Conner Lewis grabbed eight rebounds and had nine points, while Tanner Cruz contributed five assists and two steals.  Emir Zejnulahovic picked up nine points and Tony Zejnulahovic had seven. The twin brothers’ back-to-back triples in the third quarter gave the Condors a 43-28 lead.

Dennis Laconsay collected 16 points and Luke Tobias had a 15-point effort for the Tigers.

In the semifinal round last year the Condors lost a heartbreaker, 62-61 to the eventual-champion North Delta Huskies, allowing a three-point shot to bounce in off the rim with less than three seconds left. The Condors, who went on to win bronze, have been haunted by that game ever since. They’ll get a chance to finally put those demons to rest Saturday.

Duchess Park won the double-A B.C. banner in 2006.

The Condors last won the triple-A title 40 years ago. Some of the members of that team are in Langley for the 75th anniversary of the B.C. Boys High School Basketball Association’s 75th anniversary celebration and they visited the Condors after their semifinal win Friday.

“We had a goal to get into this (final) game from last year,” Condors head coach Jordan Yu told Howard Tsumura of Varsity Letters.ca, “but to have the (1980) team here.. they are coming into the change room, it would have been a bit of a downer to meet them on a loss.”