Basketball bragging rights will stay at Semiahmoo Secondary for a second straight year.
The Semiahmoo Totems – who won the inaugural Rivalry Week in 2012 – captured the aptly named Rivals Cup Wednesday afternoon, after an 88-52 win over the Elgin Park Orcas.
Both senior boys teams were 1-0 heading into the contest, having defeated Earl Marriott in their respective first games. On Monday at EMS, Semiahmoo beat the Mariners 101-45, and Tuesday, the Orcas used their home court to their advantage to beat the Mariners, setting up Wednesday’s title game.
The weeklong series saw the senior boys basketball teams of all three South Surrey public schools – Semiahmoo, Elgin Park and Earl Marriott secondaries – square off in three games, one at each school.
Last year, Semiahmoo also won the series, going 2-0.
In this year’s final game, the Totems were led by Skyler Sheehan, who had 21 points in the victory and punctuated the victory with a fast-break slam dunk that brought the crowd to its feet.
“It’s nice to defend it, for sure,” said Semi coach Edward Lefurgy. “We jumped out to a lead early, forced some turnovers and then got running.”
For the Orcas, head coach Bill Dosanjh described the scoring as “a real team effort” with a handful of players scoring between eight and 12 points, led by Shaydon Dosanjh and Colton Cook.
And though they failed to steal the Rivals Cup from the Totems’ grasp, Dosanjh – who refers to this season as a “building year” for his club – was pleased with his team’s effort during the week.
“Semi has a really good team over there this year. They have a lot of size, too, that we just don’t have,” he said. “But we played well. I was happy with how the guys played.”
No matter the outcome, the coaches agreed that this year’s Rivalry Week was another success, as players got the opportunity to play in front of hundreds of their peers.
“It was great. It was really loud at Semiahmoo today,” Dosanjh said after Wednesday’s game.
Lefurgy had similar things to say about the experience.
“It was a lot of fun for everybody. We had a student section that was leading some cheers, and I was able to go to the Earl Marriott-Elgin game at Elgin Tuesday, and (the bleachers) were just full of purple.
“We’re definitely going to do it again next year, and continue to build it up.”
All three schools are now on a break for the holidays, though the teams will stay busy. On Boxing Day, the Totems will head south to San Diego for the Torrey Pines Classic tournament.
While in California, they’ll also mix in some team-bonding activities which will include surfing, visiting Venice Beach and attending a Lakers game in Los Angeles.
The Orcas and Mariners, meanwhile, will continue to practise, with an eye on getting off to a good start when league play resumes in January.
Currently, Elgin has a 6-5 won-loss record, and are 1-1 in Fraser Valley Southwest league play.
“Better than I expected us to be, to be honest,” Dosanjg said, adding that he hopes the atmosphere and intensity of the rivalry games will help propel his team into a busy January, which is highlighted by the Surrey RCMP Classic in the middle of the month.
All three teams will take part in the the RCMP tournament, as will Southridge, Lord Tweedsmuir and Tamanawis.