After making the district final the past two years but coming up short in the championship game, the Mountain Eagles junior boys broke through.
Jarrett Jacobs hit the winning shot with three seconds remaining to give the Eagles a dramatic 55-54 victory over the Langley Christian Lightning.
Jacobs finished with 44 points, seven rebounds and six steals to give Mountain the junior boys basketball district title since at least 1989 (according to the trophy).
“This was the third year in a row that our junior boys have been in the district final, so we’ve been knocking on the door,” said Eagles coach Kirk Weiss.
“It means a lot to get this one though (and) this year’s Grade 12 boys have really paved the way for our recent success. They’ve been great mentors and role models for our Grade 9 and 10 boys.”
The Eagles (7-0) were the top seed while the Lightning (6-1) were No. 2 and during league play, Mountain crushed Langley Christian 64-35.
Mountain won all of their league games by double digits except for one and their average margin of victory in those seven games was 25 points.
But in Friday’s championship final, which was played at R.E. Mountain Secondary, the visitors took a 10-point lead into the half, 38-28.
“Our team has been in this situation before this year and I could tell the boys believed we could come back,” Weiss said.
Neither team could generate much offence in the third quarter with the Eagles pulling to within four points, 52-48.
As he has done for much of the season, Jacobs — who averaged 38.6 points per game this season — scored all 15 of Mountain’s points.
The Eagles improved to 19-1 with the win as they head into this week’s Fraser Valley championships.
Langley Christian also advances to Fraser Valleys, as do the Brookswood Bobcats and the Credo Christian Kodiaks.
The Bobcats won the third-place game at districts, 64-52.