The Walnut Grove Gators survived an upset scare to move on to the quarter-finals.
The Gators, seeded fourth at the 20-team B.C. AAA senior boys basketball championships, held on for a 78-73 victory over the Mount Douglas Rams on Wednesday morning on day two of the five-day March Madness tournament.
The win moves Walnut Grove to the quarter-finals on Thursday (March 15) at 8:15 p.m. against Abbotsford's W.J. Mouat Hawks.
In Walnut Grove’s win, Jadon Cohee poured in 33 points, shooting nearly 64 per cent (7-for-11) from the field and 44 per cent (4-for-9) from beyond the arc, while also grabbing five rebounds and dishing out three assists.
De'Sean Monstanto also had a monster game, filling out the stat sheet very nicely with 15 points, eight steals, seven rebounds and four assists.
The third major offensive contributor was Brad Hoffman, who had 15 points and six rebounds.
Paul Getz scored seven points and grabbed eight rebounds.
The Gators led by three at the half, but fell behind in the third quarter by six points before rallying to take the lead for good.
Walnut Grove is the lone Langley team which qualified for the provincials and they are looking for the school’s best finish since 2000 when they placed fourth.
This is the tournament’s second year at the LEC, with a contract to stage it at the venue through 2015.
This is the tournament’s 67th year.
Last year’s inaugural tournament — it had previously been played at the PNE Agrodome for the better part of the past 30 years — drew 13,604 fans over the course of the five-day event.
The championship final is set for Saturday at 8 p.m. and last year’s game drew more than 4,000 fans.