While the spotlight is shining bright on Pyeongchang and the Winter Olympics, there’s another light shining locally as high school basketball playoffs take centre court.
Fresh off a decisive win over the Burnaby South Rebels in the Burnaby-New West senior boys championship final last week, the Byrne Creek Bulldogs enter the 3-A Lower Mainlands as the No. 1-seed.
The Bulldogs, who defeated the Rebels 90-66 to cap the local league series, will take on Steveston-London for a quarterfinal game tonight (Wednesday), 7:30 p.m. at Byrne Creek.
The other local 3-A senior boys team in play is the St. Thomas More Knights, who defeated Prince of Wales 81-59 on Tuesday. The Knights entered the Lower Mainlands as the No. 6-seed, and now play No. 3 Charles Tupper in Vancouver tonight.
On the 4-A front, Burnaby South holds the No. 1 spot to start the Lower Mainlands, and will take to the floor tonight, 7:30 p.m. at home against Killarney, which edged Burnaby North 78-71 on Tuesday.
Also in contention are No. 10 seed Burnaby Central, who fell 65-54 to David Thompson on Tuesday. Burnaby Mountain, the 11th seed, were on the short end of a 73-57 score with Sir Winston Churchill.
Burnaby North, Burnaby Central and Burnaby Mountain still have a window, but must win their games on Friday at Kitsilano, to remain alive. Burnaby North will face the loser of Kitsilano/David Thompson, Central will face the loser of St. George’s/New Westminster, and Mountain will draw the loser of Burnaby South/Killarney match.
In 2-A action, Cariboo Hill faces a must-win tilt with McRoberts on Thursday at R.C. Palmer. The Burnaby team enters as the No. 8 seed, while McRobert was ranked ninth. A victory would catapult the Chargers into the Richmond Oval-hosted quarterfinals on Monday.
In senior girls basketball, St. Thomas More plays host today (Wednesday, 2:30 p.m.) to the winner of a Seycove/Notre Dame qualifier. If they win, the Knights would draw in for Thursday’s semifinal, 8:15 p.m. also at STM.
The final is slated for Saturday, 5 p.m.
For Burnaby Central, the 3-A Lower Mainlands, also known as the Crehan Cup, got off to a great start Saturday with a 65-54 decision over Killarney, thanks to a 28-point effort from Jalynne Huynh. The No. 8-seed Wildcats guard set the tone with eight three-pointers.
Burnaby Central hit a speed bump on Tuesday, however, when McMath advanced to Thursday’s semifinals with a 65-29 decision.
Burnaby North took a hard-fought 66-49 loss from John Oliver in their opening game last week. The Vikings, seeded 10th, led 15-10 after one quarter but trailed 33-30 at the half before the Jokers pulled away.
Mika Kurashasi led Burnaby North shooters with 10 points. They are in a must-win position today against Burnaby Central, 5 p.m. at Lord Byng.
