The West Vancouver Highlanders topped off an era of North Shore basketball dominance by winning their third straight Howe Sound senior AAAA title with a home victory over the Handsworth Royals Feb. 26.
The third-ranked Royals were the surprise team of the tournament, upsetting second-seeded Sentinel in a one-point thriller Feb. 24 before blasting the top-ranked Highlanders 62-48 Feb. 25 to force a winner-take-all final in the double-knockout tournament.
With all the chips down in the final game, however, it was the Highlanders who took control from the outset, racing to a 34-20 halftime lead that turned into a dominant 71-40 championship win.
“Credit to Handsworth for pushing us right to the brink,” said West Van head coach Greg Meldrum. “They’re a quality team with quality, character guys. To have lost the first game makes it that much sweeter to win the second game. … They say that true character is revealed in adversity – it just makes it so much better.”
The Highlanders were led by the Grade 12 trio of Josh Pinton, Nick Broady and Grady Huskisson who combined to score 59 of the team’s 70 points. Point guard Pinton led the way, relentlessly attacking on offence on his way to 23 points, seven assists and six rebounds against just one turnover. Meldrum called Pinton the team’s emotional leader.
“He leads from the front,” he said. “He’s just an incredible character guy, huge heart.”
Broady was dominant on the inside with 18 points and 10 rebounds while Huskisson did his damage from the wing, charging his way to 18 points and eight rebounds.
“We set a goal of establishing a real presence inside, and Nick delivered for us big time,” said Meldrum. “He was able to get great position in the low post all night. Grady gave us some very timely baskets from the perimeter when we needed them most and played fantastic defense all night.”
Meldrum also tipped his hat to Grade 12 guard Miles Dignum who was charged with shadowing Handsworth star Bryce McLean. McLean, who torched the Highlanders for 25 points in the first playoff meeting between the teams, was held to 14 in Friday’s final.
“One of our keys before the match was to try to limit Bryce,” said Meldrum. “He’s such a dynamic threat and can score in many different ways.”
Meldrum was impressed with what he saw from the Royals throughout the playoffs.
“Just a real gritty performance,” he said. “They worked so hard, they worked for 40 minutes, they never quit. You knew they always had a run left in them. You knew they wouldn’t fold.”
Handsworth head coach Cam Mowat said his team ran out of gas against the high-powered Highlanders.
“West Van is an incredible team with a lot of talent,” he said. “They are well coached by Greg and you can really see it in their decision making and execution on the court. Josh Pinton really hurt us, which is no surprise as he is one of the elite point guards in the province. Nick Broady and Grady are always a threat and we had a tough time shutting them down in the final game.”
With the Howe Sound title sewn up the boys with the plaid shorts will now face off against B.C.’s best at the provincial AAAA championships running March 9-12 at Langley Events Centre. The Highlanders finished 13th at provincials last year and Meldrum is keeping his expectations in check heading into this year’s tournament.
“We just want to try to beat our seeding,” he said. “We said from Day 1 that our goal was to look after the North Shore. We’ve achieved that now and I’m thrilled for the boys.”
The Howe Sound win marks the end of an era for Meldrum who has followed this group of senior players up through the levels at West Vancouver secondary. The team won the junior provincial title two years ago and continued their success on the North Shore at the senior level.
“For some reason this feels more special,” Meldrum said of this year’s Howe Sound title. “I’ve been with this group now for four years. … It’s a credit to them that it hasn’t gotten stale over four years. They put up with me for so long and they’ve never disappointed me. When the chips are down they’ve always risen to the occasion.”
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All-stars and MVPs were selected at the conclusion of the senior boys AA, AAA and AAAA Howe Sound championships. Here’s the breakdown.
AA: MVP Jaden Narwal, Collingwood. All-stars Davey Ross, Seycove; Michael Kelly, St. Thomas Aquinas; Mathew Sommerville, STA; Dillon Cooper, Collingwood; Brendan Artley, Collingwood.
AAA: MVP Edward Ahanmisi, Bodwell. All-stars Takeshi Ito, Bodwell; Arda Coban, Bodwell; Seth Putnam-Rae, Windsor; Jamil Bhimji, Sutherland; Jacob Chalifoux, Sutherland.
AAAA: MVP Josh Pinton, West Van. All-stars Nick Broady, West Van; Grady Huskisson, West Van; Troy Townsend, Handsworth; Michael Gajdics, Handsworth; Bryce McLean, Handsworth.
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The senior boys Howe Sound A-level championships also wrapped up Feb. 26 with West Vancouver’s Mulgrave Titans knocking off Pemberton 61-56 in the final.
Tom Zhang led the way with 25 points while John Taghavi chipped in 16 points and five rebounds and forward Michael Calder made his presence known in the paint, picking up nine points while grabbing 20 rebounds.
The Titans also prevailed at the Lower Mainland senior girls A-level championships, topping Pemberton 64-48 in the final. Jordan Henderson led the way with 25 points, nine rebounds and six blocks while Anniqa Karmali chipped in 16 points, six rebounds and three assists while Kealin Sacre added 11 points, five rebounds and five assists.
The Titans will head to the provincial A championships March 9-12 in Duncan as the second-ranked team.
