A big third quarter propelled the West Vancouver Highlanders to a 74-68 win over the hometown Elphinstone Cougars in the championship final of the Cougar Classic senior boys basketball tournament last Saturday night in Gibsons.
Both teams started out slow, but the shooting improved in the second quarter with the Highlanders holding a 41-38 lead at the half.
West Van came out on fire in the third, outscoring the Cougars 21-13 to push the lead to 62-51.
Turnovers and poor shot selection dogged the Cougars early in the fourth as they dug themselves a 16-point hole, but Elphi mounted a comeback with a little more than five minutes to play. The Cougars stepped up their defence, hit a couple of three-pointers and all of a sudden the Highlanders lead was cut to 71-67 with 2:44 to play.
But down the stretch, West Van stayed poised, hit a couple of key free throws and hung on for the six-point win.
“It was an interesting tournament for us because we were undermanned,” said West Van coach Ken Krohman. “We had injuries and other school commitments for three or four of our guys, so we came up with six to eight guys, which is a character test for sure, but they answered the bell. The first two games were a bit of a marathon allowing us to out skill the other two teams, but tonight’s final was a bit different because we are very well matched and it was just a battle right to the end.”
West Van opened with a 79-62 win over Pemberton Friday night and followed that up with a 91-50 drubbing of Sullivan Heights on Saturday morning.
Elphi opened with an impressive 70-47 win over Argyle on Friday morning and edged Hugh Boyd 62-56 in a spirited battle Friday night.
“West Van seems to be our nemesis,” said Elphi head coach Mike Sopow. “They beat us in our home opener and now beat us tonight. It was a much better game tonight compared to our home opener. I thought both teams played a consistent game, they just hit their shots and ours rung out, so we have to tip our hat, they were just the better team tonight.
“They had a run in the third and got a 16-point lead on us, and we clawed back, but when you get behind against a strong team like that, it’s going to be hard to come back.”
Krohman said he knew Elphi would make a run in the fourth.
“We knew they were coming. It was just a matter of time when they would get some turnovers and squeeze us a bit,” he said. “When you have six guys that play all the time it’s mentally taxing. These are 17-year-old boys and they are going to break down and the other team is going to get a bit of play going their way. Ultimately we rebounded the ball well enough and we were smart enough to stay out of foul trouble and that made the difference.”
Hugh Boyd finished in third place following their 76-51 win over Sullivan in the third/fourth place game, McRoberts finished fifth after their 93-42 drubbing of Seycove in the fifth/sixth place game and Pemberton finished seventh after its 62-44 win over Argyle in the seventh/eighth place game.
Elphi’s Axel Loitz was named a tournament all-star alongside West Van’s Luke Ryan. West Van’s Matt Fedak was named tournament MVP.
