Legal Beagle: Day 1
In honour of the late Jonathan Taylor, the inaugural Legal Beagle (donning the new 'Jonathan Taylor Legal Beagle Invitational' name) brought the hype to the little suburb of PoCo. With teams coming from K-Town, all over the lower mainland and Fraser Valley, plus the reigning champs from Vancouver Island, host school Terry Fox buzzed with excitement on Day 1.
Eight teams would duke it out in their first do-or-die matchup. Did you miss the action? No worries! Just read our recaps below:
Game 1: New Westminster Hyacks vs. Vancouver College Fighting Irish
In the first matchup of the day, the New Westminster Hyacks were up against the Vancouver College Fighting Irish in a tightly contested game. While the Hyacks came out strong in the first quarter, the Irish showed us their strength in numbers, putting up 43 points to New West's 30 at the half.
Much of the game followed in the same fashion, with VC's Callum Chow-White making money moves for the boys in purple.
With a huge push on the scoreboard from the Fighting Irish, they dominated the Hyacks by a monstrous 95-76. # 9 Toni Maric was named Player of the Game for Van College.
The Irish play the Holy Cross Crusaders at 10am on Friday for a chance to compete in the semi finals.
Game 2: Kitsilano Blue Demons vs. Oak Bay Bays
Kitsilano proved early on that if Oak Bay wanted the W, it would be a battle-in-between-the-bigs kind of situation. The Blue Demons were on fire in the first part of the quarter, but the Bays never trailed too far behind. After just ten minutes of play, the score was tied at 21 a piece.
But the second quarter saw a fuego Oak Bay team, with Diego Maffia lookin' like a walking bucket. The Bays led 45-39 at the half.
In the second half, Maffia continued to dominate in the paint, keeping his Bays in the lead by a whopping 22 points at their highest.
Oak Bay crushed the Blue Demons with a final score of 88-68.
Suitably, Maffia was awarded his first Player of the Game honours of the tourney, scoring an insane 44 points.
The Bays will duke it out with the Tamanawis Wildcats on Friday at 11:45am for a chance to play in the semi finals.
Game 3: Terry Fox Ravens vs. WJ Mouat Hawks
The third game of the day was a battle of the birds! With host school Terry Fox up to bat, the bleachers were roaring with die-hard North Siders. WJ Mouat came to play, though. In the first quarter they led by 11 with no sign of backing down. They held on at the half 40-33.
But do not count those Ravens out just yet: Jacob Mand LIT it up in the paint, eventually equalizing with the Hawks at 49 to close out the third.
It was the final quarter that saw Terry Fox fly higher than Mouat, with consistent treys and a whole lot of D. For the first time in the game, the Ravens took the lead over the Hawks.
Winning their first game of the tournament 74-66, the Terry Fox Ravens are moving on in the Legal Beagle.
# 24 Grady Stanyer claimed his first POG.
The Ravens are headed to the semi finals and will face either Tami or Oak Bay (depending who wins the morning game).
Game 4: Kelowna Owls vs. Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers
In the final game of the day, the # 1 ranked Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers were bound to leave their paw print on the out-of-towners, the Kelowna Owls. But the boys from K-Town rocked some sick gold and black Nikes paired with flashy parachute pants which reminded us all that this battle would be 'hammer time'.
That being said, Kelowna came out with a vengeance, keeping up with the Panthers right from the drop. With both teams moving flawlessly in transition, the points were piling up on opposite ends of the court. However, Panthers' Arjun Samra took a nasty fall near the end of the second quarter, giving the Owls a slight upper hand. At the end of the first half, K-Town led 45-44.
Samra joined the Panthers' squad to start the next half, giving Tweeds a chance to make a climb on boards. Would it be enough to stop the mighty Owls, though? With sniper shots and well-timed defensive moves, Kelowna held on tightly to the lead.
In what can only be deemed the upset of the day, the Kelowna Owls chewed up the Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers in the first round, claiming a shiny gold W to finish off Day 1 at the Legal Beagle.
Owls' # 6 Hunter Simson snagged his first POG with 32 points.
K-Town will play against either Holy Cross or Vancouver College (depending who wins the morning game).
Will Kelowna continue to turn heads at Terry Fox Secondary? Be sure to catch all the live action on our Instagram on Day 2! We'll be posting all of the highlights on our YouTube channel as well, so don't forget to subscribe.
Written by: Crystal Scuor