BC high school basketball: Haida Gwaii steals show, almost wins title

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It could have been the ideal finish for a movie, both figuratively and literally.

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A film crew followed the Gidgalang Kuuyas Naay Breakers at the boys basketball provincial championships at the Langley Events Centre this past week, compiling footage for writer-director Patrick Shannon’s upcoming documentary, Saints and Warriors, about the importance of basketball to Haida Gwaii.

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The Breakers, who were the No. 6 seeds in the Single A division, gave the movie makers plenty of good stuff to work with. They beat the No. 3 St. John’s School Eagles of Vancouver 79-72 in the quarterfinals and the No. 2 Maple Ridge Christian Hornets 72-71 in the semifinals. The team just missed the upset hat trick in Saturday’s championship tilt with a 74-71 loss to the No. 1 Unity Christian Flames of Chilliwack.

The Breakers had a three-pointer at the buzzer clang the rim, nixing an overtime session by the narrowest of margins.

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That was the start of Saturday action at the LEC. It closed out with the No. 2 Spectrum Thunder of Saanich downing the No. 4 Tamanawis Wildcats of Surrey 92-72 for the Quad A crown.

Spectrum coach Tyler Verde talked afterwards about how former national bench boss Ken Shields worked with the team. The 78-year-old Shields is one of the most decorated coaches in any sport in this country; he was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1998.

In between all that, there was also the No. 3 Collingwood Cavaliers of West Vancouver outlasting No. 4 Brentwood College of Mill Bay 71-64 for the Double A title and the No. 2 Dover Bay Dolphins of Nanaimo defeating the No. 5 MEI Eagles of Abbotsford 75-61 for the Triple A banner.

With so many out-of-town teams in finals, the crowds for championship day weren’t as large or loud as last year, but attendance still likely maxed out at about 5,000 on Saturday.

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The Breakers were among the fan favourites all week. The Haida Gwaii anthem playing before their game as the Breakers players stood together arm in arm will be one of the more memorable moments of this year’s event. 

On Saturday, the Breakers had players from other teams in the tournament in the crowd cheering them on against the Flames, who have now been in the past four Single A finals and won three of them.

“Everybody loves an underdog story,” said Breakers coach Desi Collinson. “Everybody loves those small schools that come from what they recognize as relatable. Everybody has adversity in life and they understand that you have to try this much harder. They understand that. 

“For me, for them to view us in that sense and relate to us in that sense, no matter who they were or where they came from, shows great character and great people.

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“A lot of other teams came behind us. They might be smaller schools. They might be bigger schools. They understand the situation we’re in. That’s why people get behind an underdog. Most of them have been there in their lives.”

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The Breakers play just 10 games against high school competition during the season. The rest is against men’s league teams, including one featuring Collinson. He’s on the movie poster that’s on Shannon’s website. Shannon told the Interior News last month that he’s aiming to have the movie ready for the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Collinson explained Saints and Warriors as “highlighting Haida basketball and Haida culture and how they intertwine with one another.” 

The Breakers’ game Saturday with the Flames featured 11 lead changes and undoubtedly brought up memories of last year on the Unity Christian side, when they had a back and forth final with Vancouver’s King David Lions and wound up falling 72-68.

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A steal and breakaway layup by Breakers guard Greg Puterill with 23.6 seconds remaining made it 72-71 in the Flames’ favour. Unity Christian came down the floor and got the ball inside to forward Ryder Vanderkooi, who upped the margin to 74-71 with 8.4 seconds showing on the clock. Breakers centre Temo Laughlin got a good look from the top for a three-pointer at the buzzer, but it was just short.

“That was one of the hardest games I’ve ever had to coach,” said Unity Christian’s David Bron, who has been at the helm for this title run. “When all the momentum was against us — it felt like it anyway — our boys managed to turn it back. I’m super happy.”

Guard Jay Smiens, who was later named tournament most valuable player, and Vanderkooi both finished with 22 points. Vanderkooi also had 19 rebounds.

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Guard Levi Burton led the Breakers with 20 points, eight assists and five rebounds. Puterill had 11 points, 10 rebounds and five steals.

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Meanwhile, Spectrum got 26 points, 12 rebounds, four steals and four blocks from forward Tyler Felt en route to defeating Tamanawis. Felt was named tournament most valuable player later.

Verde credited Felt with initially reaching out to Shields — the long UVic Vikes coach — to try to get him involved with Spectrum. Verde and Shields did have a connection already; they’re both from Prince Rupert and Verde said “I met Ken when I was at a really young age.”

“I think we talked for five hours at a coffee shop,” Verde said of that meeting with Shields prompted by Felt. “Next thing you know, Ken’s at our place twice a week in the morning for awhile. He came over Christmas break. He talked to the guys. He called me almost every day. He’s meant the world to us. We’re so lucky to have Ken. I think he’s the greatest coach of all time in Canada. But, being from Rupert, it’s even extra special to me.

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“The kids love him. They all know who Ken Shields is. I made sure they knew.”

Oddly enough, Spectrum wasn’t well known in the boys basketball ranks until recently. Their only Vancouver Island championships came in 1986 and 1990. They didn’t place in the top eight at the provincials the first year, and they came in eighth the second.

Verde coached at Camosun College in Victoria for a time and had players from noted Vancouver Island programs and “they laughed,” at Spectrum, Verde said.

“And now we’re provincial champs,” he continued.

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Victoria’s Oak Bay Bays were the No. 1 seeds for this tourney. Oak Bay and Spectrum traded top spot in the provincial rankings back and forth multiple times this season according to their head-to-head meetings. The Bays won the Vancouver Island crown over the Thunder to get the upper hand going into the provincials.

Oak Bay lost 80-79 in the overtime to Tamanawis in Friday’s semifinals, giving up a 68-58 lead amid a heavy full-court press from the Wildcats. Tamanawis opted for the defensive scheme again against Spectrum, but Spectrum found ways to cut through it and kept making shots. 

“I think we went to the press about five minutes early, but it was the only real option at that point,” said Wildcats coach Mike McKay.

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Along with Felt’s production, Spectrum received 21 points from guard J Elijah Helman and 20 points and 16 rebounds from forward Justin Hinrichsen. They were both picked first all-stars; Felt, Helman and Hinrichsen are all Grade 11s.

Tamanawis was paced by 17-point outings from both guard Michael Adarkwah-Nti and forward Sartaj Bhangu.

In Triple A, Dover Bay received 22 points, 15 boards, five assists, three steals and four blocks from forward Frank Linder in the win over MEI. 

Linder was named both championship player of the game and tournament most valuable player.

The Dolphins lost in last year’s final to Vancouver’s St. Patrick Celtics. The Celtics were top seeds this year and saw their bid for a third straight title end in Friday’s semis when they fell 79-75 to MEI.

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“We’ve been working since last year, since we lost,” said Dover Bay guard Tarman Sandhu. “I promised myself we are going to be back here (and) we’re going to have a gold medal instead of a silver one. And we are here and we are doing it.”

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In Double A, Collingwood was strong outside (made 13-of-23 three-pointers) and inside (10 blocked shots) en route to defeating Brentwood College.

Guard Cy Bosa had 22 points for the victors and guard Finnegan Murphy notched 20, including going 5-of-8 from three-point range. Forward James Holm supplied eight points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals and was picked tournament most valuable player.

Collingwood was pushed on the opening day of the tournament, beating the No. 14 Khalsa School Lions of Surrey 77-69 Wednesday. Top seeds usually win by wide margins to start proceedings.

“I think our first game this week set the tone for how hard this was going to be,” said Collingwood assistant coach Teresa Ross. “We knew we just had to keep going and going.”

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@SteveEwen

SEwen@postmedia.com

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