June 8th, 20182018 Provincial Club Championships Recap

June 5, 2018

Trailing by eight points late in the third quarter, DRIVE LEC U17 Elite went on a 23-10 run stretching into the fourth quarter to capture the U17 title at Basketball BC’s club basketball championships.

Four age groups were contested with two Fraser Valley squads, one from Vancouver and another from Gibsons winning their respective brackets to wrap up three days of basketball action at Langley Events Centre on Sunday afternoon.

DRIVE U17 Elite, which is based out of Langley Events Centre, defeated the Sonics – a club made up of players from Langley, Maple Ridge, Rutlands, Kamloops and Kelowna – 104-91 thanks in large part to a dominant fourth quarter. DRIVE scored 39 points over the final 10 minutes.

Arjun Sharma led the way with 44 points while Kris Galindez chipped in with 26.

Nic Lafontaine led the Sonics with 31 points.

In the U15 Platinum Division, the Outsiders (Abbotsford) won 79-53 against the Whalley Tigers (Surrey).

The score was tight in the first quarter as the Outsiders led just 17-15, but the lead was up to 10 at the half before a 14-0 run put the game out of reach.

Sahil Sidhu scored 20 and Jaydan Bains added 17 for the Outsiders. The Tigers’ Kerrin Bhardwaj had 12 points to lead his team.

Sunday’s earlier championship games featured one back-and-forth contest while the other saw one team build a large lead which proved to be too much to overcome.

That latter game – in the U16/U17 age group – saw the Sunshine Coast Basketball Club (Gibsons) led virtually the entire way against Club Hurricane (Abbotsford).

Club Hurricane’s only lead was 1-0 as after scoring the game’s first point, they found themselves trailing 29-14 after one quarter. The lead would be 52-36 at the half and 67-50 with 10 minutes to play. Club Hurricane did manage to get the lead down to five points before their opponent iced the game at the free throw line.

Gus Goerzen led the victors with 24 points – including six three-pointers – while Joseph Schembri and Seth Starsage each had 16. Club Hurricane was led by Gautam Dhaliwal’s 23 points, 17 from Harjot Dhaliwal and 16 from Gurkarn Mangat.

The closest of the four championship games saw Dynamite (Vancouver) defeat Salmon Arm Synergy (Salmon Arm) 58-51.

Three of the four quarters were either tied separated by one point apiece but Dynamite had built a seven-point advantage in the first quarter.

For more information:
Gary Ahuja, Langley Events Centre, 604.613.5242 (cell) 604.455.8830 (office) or email.