NORTH Vancouver's Jesse Jeffers earned first-team all-star status as his Langara Falcons won bronze at the CCAA men's basketball national championships held last weekend in Montreal.
Jeffers, an Argyle secondary grad, was quiet with five points and six rebounds in Langara's 90-63 quarterfinal blowout win over the host team from John Abbott College on Thursday but exploded for 21 points, nine rebounds and two blocks in a losing effort as the Falcons fell 87-86 to Holland College in the semifinals on Friday.
With his team now on the consolation side Jeffers scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds and two steals before fouling out in just 19 minutes of play to help the Falcons top Red Deer College 80-79 Saturday morning to earn a place in the bronze medal match. The Falcons then played Sheridan College in the bronze medal game - their second game of the day - and Jeffers took command, scoring 28 points while adding 17 rebounds in a 99-93 overtime win over Sheridan College. Jeffers had a chance to win it late in the fourth quarter but missed two free throws and the game went into overtime. He made up for the misses, however, scoring four points and grabbing a number of key rebounds as Langara ran away in the extra frame. Jeffers was named Langara's player of the game.
The second-year forward ended the national tournament as the sixth-leading scorer with a 17.5 points-per game average and the third-leading rebounder, averaging 10 boards per game.
Earlier this season Jeffers was named to the PacWest first all-star team after helping the Falcons win the regular season title with a 20-1 record. Langara went on to win the provincial title, beating the Vancouver Island University Mariners - a team that went on to win the national title - in the PacWest final.
