The Southridge Storm played the role of giant killers last weekend, knocking off some of the best quad-A teams in the province en route to winning the Tsumura Basketball Invitational at the Langley Events Centre.
Southridge – playing at the AAA level this season after years in AA – defeated the Holy Cross Crusaders, B.C.’s No. 9-ranked quad-A team 92-78 Saturday night to capture the title.
The win was the Storm’s second over a top-ranked quad-A school in as many days, after an overtime win over quad-A No. 2 Winston Churchill in semifinals Friday.
Southridge forward Hunter Hughes was named MVP of the tournament after posting back-to-back 42-point efforts to end the tourney.
Hughes also had 21 rebounds and four blocks in the final, while Matt Andreou had 26 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter.
In semifinals, Dominic Clayton and Andreou had 18 and 16 points, respectively, to go with Hughes’ 42, but it was senior Rohan Taneja who was the star in overtime. Taneja scored six of his nine points in the extra frame to help give Southridge the win.