Burnaby South Rebels will play for the 2018 Boys Tsumura Basketball Invitational title in Langley after they survived a plucky Terry Fox Ravens crew in overtime.
The Rebels, ranked No. 1 in the Quad-A polls and the defending provincial champions, will face No. 4 Lord Tweedsmuir in Saturday’s championship final at Langley Events Centre. The game tips off at 8 p.m.
Burnaby South defeated Terry Fox 85-82 in one semifinal while the Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers cruised to a 96-71 win over the No. 3 Holy Cross Crusaders in the other.
The Rebels led by 21 at the half and 16 after three quarters in the first of Friday’s before watching the Ravens – ranked No. 2 heading into the TBI tournament – not only erase the deficit, but also take a brief three-point lead in the latter stages. Alas, the comeback was not to be completed as Terry Fox had multiple chances to win it in the final minute as they had possession over the last 60 seconds but could not get the bucket to drop.
The teams would trade hoops through the first half of overtime before the Rebels took the lead for good, winning 85-82 after a rushed Terry Fox three-pointer as the buzzer sounded fell well short.
The Rebels received 24 points from Aidan Wilson and another 23 from Jiordano Khan while Justin Sunga had 17 and Baltej Sohal had 14.
Terry Fox was led by 25 points from Jacob Mand while Jaden DeLeon (15 points), Jake McFarland (13) and David Chien (12) also hit double digits.
In the latter of the semifinals, trailed briefly in the first quarter 16-15, but were up 51-31 at the half. And while Terry Fox battled back to make a game of it in the second half, Holy Cross could get no closer than 17 points, ultimately falling 96-71.
Arjun Samra led Tweedsmuir with 26 points while Austin Swedish had 18.
The Crusaders’ Brent Padila led his team with 21 points and Ben Levy had 19.
The Ravens will battle the Crusaders in the third-place game at 6:15 p.m.
READ MORE: B.C.’s AAA high school basketball teams competing in Langley
Day 2 scores
Quarter-finals:
Burnaby South 77 Oak Bay 74
Terry Fox 89 Byrne Creek 56
Holy Cross 74 Kelowna 59
Lord Tweedsmuir 89 North Delta 70
Consolation bracket:
G.W. Graham 75 Centennial 65
Sir Charles Tupper 90 W.J. Mouat 89
Rick Hansen 93 R.A. McMath 83
Heritage Woods 81 Belmont 76