After a one-year absence, the White Rock Christian Academy Warriors senior boys are back in the B.C. AAA Basketball Championships.
The Warriors, who last year failed to qualify for provincials for the first time in more than a decade, secured their spot in this year's tournament with a 77-70 win over Abbotsford's Yale Lions in the Fraser Valley Championships Friday afternoon at the Langley Events Centre.
"It's exciting. We put together a really good game," said WRCA head coach Dale Shury. "It's nice to be back (at provincials), and it's especially important for our seniors, because it's their last year and they didn't get the chance last year."
The Warriors led Yale 37-27 at halftime – thanks in part to a decided advantage in rebounding, especially on the offensive glass – and never relinquished the lead in the last two quarters.
"Yale played us very tough. They just didn't go away, and they stayed within striking distance the whole time," said Shury. "But that said, I don't think we were ever worried that the game was in doubt at that point."
Jon Pelling was named player of the game for White Rock, after a 24-point, 10-rebound, five-assist effort. Point guard Tyus Allen, meanwhile, was the team' offensive catalyst in the first half and finished the game with a team-high 28 points.
With the B.C. berth under their collective belts, the Warriors advanced to the Fraser Valley's fifth/sixth place game Saturday, where they lost 83-74 to W.J. Mouat. WRCA erased a 22-point halftime deficit but could not quite pull off the win, leaving them as the sixth-place Valley team. The top seven Fraser Valley teams qualify for B.C. championships.
"I was extremely proud of the the guys after that game," Shury said. "They didn't hang their heads coming out for the third quarter, they kept going."
Vartan Tanelian came off the bench to lead WRCA with 30 points Saturday, including six three-point shots.
On Saturday, Yale snagged the last B.C. berth with a win over North Delta.
Earlier in the Fraser Valleys, on March 2, White Rock defeated Princess Margaret, 77-66 . A loss would have ended the Warriors' season.
Prior to that game, WRCA lost to the Tamanawis Wildcats. Earlier in the tournament, WRCA defeated Kwantlen Park and Maple Ridge.
The draw for provincials was announced Sunday afternoon at LEC, and the Warriors, by virtue of their sixth-place Valley finish, will have to play a Tuesday "play-in" game March 13 against Cranbrook's Mount Baker Secondary, the lone Kootenay rep at the B.C. tournament. Had WRCA defeated Mouat Saturday, they would have earned a bye directly to Wednesday's first round.
The winner of Tuesday's WRCA/Baker contest will play Wednesday against Vancouver's St. George's Saints, who are the Lower Mainland's No. 1 seed.
"We obviously tried to win Saturday to avoid the Tuesday game, but I actually think it'll be a good thing for us," Shury said of his team's looming contest with Mount Baker.
"It'll be good for us to play as many games as well can, so (if we win), we won't go into the game against St. George's cold."
On Dec. 1, WRCA opened its season with a 75-60 win over St. George's, but Shury said the Saints are much improved since then.
"They've really come on strong late in the season," he said.
Shury, who took over the WRCA head coaching reigns late last month after former coach John Dykstra resigned, knows even less about Mount Baker, as the two teams have not crossed paths this season.
"We haven't seen them, so we don't know anything about them, but I imagine they'll be a tough, hard-working team – thats typical of the teams that usually come out of the Kootenays and the Interior."