Bballnationals Boys: Championship Sunday
8:15am Games
Westshore Dawgs vs Bata Sports
3rd place game--Westshore first to put up points, close game throughout opening minutes. Turnover by white gave black the advantage twice; Dawgs went for a run to close out the deficit and come ahead of Bata by 2.
For the first time all tournament, Westshore played like a full unit on the court. With excellent communication and press (plus a few on fleek 3s), the Dawgs led by 17 points to end the first.
Bata made a few choppy mistakes and racked up the fouls early in the second, giving Westshore the upper hand, yet again. Even though Bata Sports continued to pressure, it was too little too late.
The Westshore Dawgs won 66-51 to take 3rd place! Congrats to both teams for giving it there all at bballnationals.
Shootings Stars Basketball Club vs Wolf Pack U17
Duking it out for the 7th place spot, both the Shooting Stars and Wolf Pack were looking for one last W. After the first half, the teams were tied at 30 each; with Shooting Stars looking a bit more promising than their opponent (despite the proximity on the scoreboard).
Wolf Pack jumped out in the second to take the lead, even going for a bit of a job. But in the end, Shooting Stars defeated them with a final score of 67-58.
Stars’ # 2 had five 3s for his team.
Spotters vs Burnaby Knights 5th place game
Both teams played a tense first half, but the Knights were able to grab an seven point lead midway through the half. They would get up by 14 late in the half, thanks to some great work down low which led to some easy buckets. The Knights were up 30-14 early in the second half, until a 24-9 run made it just a slim one point lead for them. Two clutch free throws from the Knights gave them enough breathing room late to give them the 42-38 win over the Spotters.
“We’re pretty happy” said the Knights Chase Deza on if he’s content with where his team finished. “There was a lot of tough competitors. I think we could have started off well earlier and got a better result, but we like what we got.
Dynamite vs Northern Bounce 7th place game
Dynamite played great defence to start this one, limiting their opponents to just eight points in the first five minutes. Northern Bounce however then started to use their superior rebounding to put up their own points and cutting the lead to just five. They would eventually take the lead into halftime and held it the rest of the way — the highlight being when Emerson from Northern Bounce table topped Gavin from the Dynamite. Final score was 63-45 for the team from Prince George.
“Lots of pressing, lots of intensity” said Northern Bounce’s Caleb Ezedego on how his team came back to win this one. “Running the floor very well and just taking good shots too.”
Northwest vs MacHoops 3rd place game
MacHoops high tempo offence scored quickly, getting 12 points in the opening three minutes. But Northwest then went on a 16-6 run to make it just a two point game. Both teams would trade points the rest of the way in a first half that ended 28-24 for MacHoops. MacHoops continued their strong play in the second half, taking this game 51-46 and finishing this tournament in third place.
“We’re pretty happy with where we finished” said MacHoops Abhishek Shekedhi afterwards. “We know we could have done better but we’re happy with what we have.”
9:30am Games
Salmon Arm Synergy vs Dynamite U16
Synergy came out strong in the first, taking a 27-21 lead over Dynamite. However, in the second half of this game Dynamite was explosive--pun intended. They tied it up at 29 within the first few minutes. The boys from Salmon Arm were relentless in the paint and kept throwing up points, though.
They eventually took a steeper lead by 10 points with just under 8 minutes remaining. And continued their push for the win; Salmon Arm Synergy defeated Dynamite by a final score of 67-51.
# 10 for Synergy hit 7--yes, you read that right--trey’s! Congrats to both teams on their tremendous effort at bballnationals!
NextGen vs Dynamite 5th place game
It was 40-30 for NextGen at half, and the team from Ontario led by as much as 16 at one points. But Dynamite scored eight straight to start the second half and made it just a two point contest. They would eventually take a two point lead near the ten minute mark and extend that to ten late, aided by an incredible 19-6 run. Dynamite completed the comeback and won 74-67.
“We got a good talk form the coach and hyped up our energy” said Player of the Game Ben of the Dynamite. “We were a little lazy in the first half [but] we came back, rebounded a bit better and started to finish our shots.”
Dynamite vs Northern Bounce: 7th place game
It was the second straight game at centre court featuring these two teams, and it was a similar result. Northern Bounce took advantage of almost every Dynamite mistake, winning 52-39.
“I think we did pretty good” said Mitchell Crosina of Northern Bounce afterwards on how his team did at bballnationals. “This is our first year as a traveling team.”
Doggpound Hoops vs Rock Elite: 3rd place game
The Doggpound were obviously still fired up from their game against GrassRoots yesterday, as they raced out to a 31-12 lead by late in the first half. They led by as much as 25 late, and eventually took this one 67-47 over Rock Elite. The Doggpound got balanced scoring all across their lineup — at least four players got eight points or more.
“I thought for the value, the coverage, the experience, [it was great]” said Doggppound head coach Adam Huffman on his team’s experience at Bballnationals. “The quality of games, the officiating was good. I was happy with the warm up time — most tournaments you don’t get that — [and] my kids really enjoyed this experience. Coming out of Saskatchewan, this is has been a great opportunity my kids will remember the rest of their lives.”
10:45am Games
StormHawks vs MacHoops
After defeating their other StormHawks Johnson team, StormHawks Johnson (the second) went on to play MacHoops U17 in the Recreational Championship final. In fact, the South and Field House Court featured two games with a total of 3 StormHawks’ teams.
But let’s stick to the game at hand. The StormHawks were first to put some points up on the board; however, MacHoops really wanted to take home the gold. They led by a monstrous 20 points to close out the first half.
The second half saw MacHoops take a substantial lead by 30 points over the Hawks, who just couldn't seem to fly as a team throughout the match. With MacHoops playing well in transition and moving the ball amongst nearly every teammates, they took the win by a landslide!
Final digits: 74-42.
MacHoops POG # 28 Hudson Swaim had this to say following the team’s last win at bballnationals:
“It was fun; we just enjoyed playing together. I mean the tournament’s been fun--we didn’t do as well as we wanted to. We wish we had some more wins in close game, but it’s just a good experience for the guys.”
Congrats to both teams!
StormHawks C. Johnson vs StormHawks Liboy
In this lovely consolation game between StormHawks and...Stormhawks, StormHawks took the lead at the end of the half 30-26 over StormHawks. Okay, that’s a whole lot of Hawks. Just to clarify, StormHawks C. Johnson was slightly ahead of StormHawks Liboy.
In the end, Hawks C defeated Hawks L by just 3 points! The final score being 60-57.
# 5 Gonzago had 16 points for his team.
Thanks for all the fun at bballnationals, StormHawks!
Northern Bounce vs Spartans 5th Place
Northern Bounce rebounded well in the first half, limiting the Spartans ability to get second chance baskets. This strategy, plus some timely threes gave them the lead at half, and got them up by 11 early in the second half.
The Spartans gave everything they had down the stretch, pushing the ball up the court at a frenetic pace. They got to within two with just a minute left, and then pulled a rabbit out of their hat — a corner three and then a layup from Hubert Oslonski on the fast break gave them the lead they would never give up. Spartans won in miraculous fashion, 63-60.
“We sat on the bench at halftime, and we thought to ourselves ‘We came all the way here from Toronto, we’re not going to go without winning anything.’” said Oslonski after the game, with his teammates surrounding him. “So we just put in our head that we’re the best team here and that we just have to play the hardest that we can.”
NextGen vs VanCity: 7th Place
NextGen led by 12 at halftime, and in the second half they got that up even higher thanks to some great ball movement. VanCity just didn’t seem to be able to play well enough offensively to make up for the defensive end. Final score was 98-46.
“We played good defence when we pressed up” said NextGen’s Christian Liwanag after his team’s victory. “We scored a lot in transition.”
Calgary Storm vs Dynamite 3rd Place
Man was this game a battle. Both teams were looking to get a result after heartbreaking losses in the semi-finals and they put on a show, with amazing buckets on either side. Dynamite led by four at the break, but the Storm stormed back (sorry) to take a 13 point lead early in the second half. Their ability to get high quality looks proved too much for the Dynamite defence to contain, and they won 87-58.
“We enjoyed the experience” said Calgary’s Adrian Soriano afterwards on his team’s third place finish, “but we would have liked to have finish first. We were really close in [the semi-final] and I feel like we should have won.”
12:00pm Games
Split Second U13 vs VanCity Basketball: U13 Competitive Final
Just as anticipated, this game was hot and heavy right off the jump! Split Second, donning their lethal black jerseys, went on an 19-0 run to begin. From afar, these little dudes did not look like U13s. They were Lightning McQueen on the court with fast-paced moves that allowed them to take a crazy lead over VanCity.
After the first, the Cobras led by a whopping 30 points: 50-20.
They continued to grind in the second, only allowing VanCity just 1 layup in the first 6 minutes. This game was basically over early on, with Split Second breaking their competition in every way possible.
To claim the first Championship trophy of the tournament, the Split Second U13 Cobras defeated VanCity Basketball with a final score of 96-27.
# 19 Finlay Chow-White says the team probably won’t do much to celebrate the win, but they’re happy to be crowned the champs.
“To be honest, we just came in to play in this tournament. We didn’t really think about winning, we’re just a bunch of kids from all over Vancouver. So it feels pretty good to pull it off.”
Congrats to both teams!
Shooting Stars vs Edmonton StormHawks: Intermediate Final
A insane Shooting Stars 20-2 run to start this game had the guests oozing with confidence the rest of the game. Their moves on the fast break was off the chart, and they easily took this one 78-51.
“I really liked it” said Shooting Stars head coach Joey Dhillon on his experience at bballnationals. “There was a lot of good competition and it was fun to play against teams from different parts of the country.”
Westshore Dawgs vs Dynamite
Both teams refused to give each other an inch to start — it was tied at 16 midway through the first half, and Dynamite led by four at halftime. A back and forth second half saw Dynamite ahead by just three points with under a minute in the game. Westshore got to within just a single point, but missed their jumper that would have seen them claim victory. Dynamite took it 64-63.
“We were getting a bit overconfident” said Zachary Lo of the Dynamite afterwards on how the Westshore Dawgs came back to make it a game. “We started taking deep threes and missing our shots.”
Northern Bounce vs Live2Give
Live2Give led by seven at half, however somebody must have given Northern Bounce a Red Bull at halftime because they came out with wings. They got to within six but eventually crashed and loss 61-29.
“Our ball movement was good” said Live2Give player Jaxon Smith after his team’s win. “We played good defence. It was an all-around good game on offence and defence.”
1:30pm Games
Grassroots Elite vs Red Rush
Obviously Elijah Fisher opened up the scoring with a nice 6-0 run. Time out called by Red Rush within the first two minutes of play. Once the teams hit the court again, Grassroots kept on dominating with a couple quick layups. Rush finally sank a 2 pointer, but kept on trailing their dominant opponent from the 6ix.
The duration of the half showcased a hell of a lot more action from Grassroots (no hype dunks, though) which allowed them to take a monster lead of 58-23 at the half.
Elite showed up first again in the second, putting up 4 points before Fisher incurred a foul that gave Red Rush 2 on the board. The Montreal natives pressed hard in this half in hopes of narrowing the near 40-point gap between Grassroots. Despite the obvious beatdown with a near 50-point lead at its highest peak, both teams were all smiles on the court.
Grassroots Elite hit triple digits to finish this game off--they won 105-59 over Red Rush.
Elijah Fisher was named MVP of the tournament thanks to the big U15 Championship title. And Sheadon Sharpe took home player of the game honours.
“I feel pretty good,” Sharpe said. “We just executed plays and worked hard.”
He says the team is looking forward to celebrating when they get back home to Toronto.
Congrats to both teams on the new hardware!
North Stars vs Northern Bounce U17 Intermediate Final
It was perhaps the game of bballnationals, perhaps the game of the entire boys tournament. Down 19-2 early, it looked like Northern Bounce was going to head back to Prince George with a second place finish but no medal. However, they staged a fantastic comeback to force overtime and eventually win it 77-73.
“It was a slow start, a real sluggish start” said Jordan Yu, Northern Bounce’s head coach, after the game had ended. “Your last game of the year, you don’t want to start off that way. [. . .] I knew that our press would eventually get to them. We kept on chipping away, we knew we would be in it by the end of it. But what a finish. To actually end our season on a game like that, it’s pretty awesome.”
North Stars jumped ahead by 16 early, but two straight threes from Northern Bounce made it manageable with plenty of time left. The Prince George team then went on a 16-2 run however that brought them to within just three at the break. Tre Gibson had an especially good first half, cutting through the Northern Bounce defence like a hot knife through butter.
Both teams exchanged points to start the second frame. With the North Stars up two with five and change to play, Northern Bounce finally tied it up, then took a three point lead courtesy of a Cameron and one. North Stars answered right back with a basket of their own — but a Northern Bounce deep three gave them a four point lead.
The final few minutes had me nervous, and I wasn’t even playing. After the North Stars made two of four free throws they forced an eight second violation, they scored off a deep corner two. Tied at 63, we were off to extra basketball.
In Overtime, North Stars and Northern Bounce rained down threes to start. Northern Bounce was up by one with 90 seconds to play, and they got the teardrop to fall through the hoop. They would hit a deep jumper to give them enough breathing.
“I knew all the way down that we could come back” said Northern Bounce’s Cameron Sail after the game. “The team really bonded and gelled together well.”
Congratulations to both teams on putting on such a great show for the fans.
3:00pm Game
North Stars United vs CBA Cobras U17 Competitive Final
CBA came out strong in the first, hitting the scoreboard on an 8-0 run before the North Stars could find their footing. Even after making a couple baskets, they were down 15-4 with eleven minutes remaining.
The rest of the half swayed in CBA’s favour, as NSU made careless turnovers that allowed the Cobras more action in the basket. But the Stars fought hard to bring the deficit to within just 4 points. With a nice trey from CBA, they took a bigger lead 28-21 at the half.