For veteran Kelowna Owls coach, Harry Parmar, it’s always been about building momentum and intensity over four days.
Both got a kickstart on the opening day of the B.C. School Sports 4A basketball championship tournament on Langley.
The Owls, defending champions and No. 2-ranked team, did what they were supposed to do against No. 15 North Peace Ookapiks, handing the Fort St. John representatives a 106-49 defeat.
While the usual suspects were among the top point-getters — Mason Bourcier (17), Matt Williamson (15) and Owen Keyes (11) — non-starters, Juan Carlos de Alba and Parker Johnson added 12 and 10 points respectively.
“It was good to get control early and then maintain the intensity with the bench working hard to show what they could do,” said Parmar. “It was a nice start. We just need to be ready to take another step forward in the quarters. It’s going to be a big challenge.”
Parmar and the Owls are going up against the No. 7-ranked St. George’s Saints of Vancouver for the first time this season (tip-off 3:30 p.m.).
The hard-working Saints, ranked as high as fifth this season, earned a date with the Owls by downing the Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers 89-56 in their opener. Jacob van Santen led the way with 20 points and 15 rebounds while Jamie Ratliff netted 18 points.
The winner of the Kelowna-St. George's quarter will advance to a semifinal against either No. 3 Oak Bay Bays or the No. 6 W.J. Mouat Hawks.
The other quarter-finals on Thursday will see No. 1 Walnut Grove Gators taking on the eighth-seed Kitsilano Blue Demons, while the Vancouver College Fighting Irish (No. 4) will meet the Holy Cross Crusaders of Surrey (No. 5).
Play continues Friday with the semifinals while the medal games are set for Saturday. The championship game goes at 8:15 p.m.
With a large crowd of students watching the live stream in their home gymnasium in Kelowna, the Heritage Christian School Saints didn’t disappoint in their opening game at the B.C. School Sports senior A boys basketball championship.
The newly-minted Okanagan Valley champions, ranked No. 3 going into the 16-team provincial tournament, advanced to Thursday’s quarter-final by defeating the 14th-ranked Mulgrave Titans of West Vancouver 88-52 at the Langley Events Centre on Wednesday.
Jumping out to a 31-10 lead in the first 10 minutes — with the help of a 20-0 run — Heritage led 54-24 by the half.
Both Isaiah Akurienne and Timi Akindele came off the bench to help lead the Saints in their first-ever game at the provincial championship event. Akurienne scored 16 points and was chosen player of the game while Akindele pulled down 12 rebounds and added an equal amount of points for the winners.
In all, six of the Saints reached double digits. Raymond Barrett finished with 14 points while Sam Bell netted 13 to go along with 12 by Josh Weekes and 11 by Jordan Nenasheff.
The win earned the Saints a quarter-final meeting with the No. 6 Sparwood Spartans on Thursday beginning at 3:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Kelowna Christian School Knights, who lost 75-65 to Heritage in the Okanagan Valley final recently, also opened the BCSS provincial tournament with a convincing win.
Seeded fifth prior to the play on Wednesday, the Knights downed the No. 12 Deer Lake School of Burnaby 101-64.
Jackson Katler contributed 19 points. Cruz Andersen and Carter Martens added 13 points apiece.
The Knights will move on to meet the No. 4 Credo Christian Kodiaks of Langley in quarter-final play starting at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday.
A huge concern for the Knights will be Credo’s 6-foot-5 Levi Leyenhorst, who scored 38 points and grabbed nine boards in a 96-65 win over Fraser Lake on Wednesday.
Despite a 40-point performance by Fynn McCarthy, the George Elliot Coyotes of Lake Country came out on the short end of a 112-71 decision to the G.W. Graham Grizzlies of Chilliwack in their first game at the BCSS provincial AA boys basketball championship.
McCarthy, committed to the University of B.C. Thunderbirds’ volleyball team for the 2017-18 season, proved his versatility in the Coyotes’ opener by scoring more than half of the team’s points.
Elliot head coach, Kathy Lafontaine, told Dan Kinvig of Varsity Letters that she marvels at McCarthy’s play on the court.
“He’s just so athletic . . . we’re just thrilled he works as hard as he does. And he doesn’t give up. He would like to stay on the court for the entire 40 minutes.”
Lafontaine also said playing a team like G.W.Graham was a good experience for the young Coyotes team.
“We’re a volleyball school, and we struggled to bring in basketball,” she shared with Kinvig. “These guys were in volleyball provincials until the day before the season started, so we’ve been really slow-growing.
“We have some seniors, but we have juniors on our team too, and it was great for those guys to see what a well-developed team could be.”
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