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Oak Bay lead Island teams to boys provincials

Update on South Island teams at basketball provincials
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Lucas Maffia attempts a three-pointer during Oak Bay High School’s 114-55 win to open the 2019 Island Championships, Feb. 21 at Oak Bay. The Bays went on to win their fifth straight title and will compete in the AAA High School Boys B.C. Basketball Championships in Langley starting Wednesday. (Black Press File Photo)

High school basketball provincials are underway, with the junior girls and boys championships, as well as most of the senior girls tournaments all wrapped up.

Here’s a look at how the Greater Victoria teams fared and which will be taking part in the senior boys tournament starting Wednesday.

READ MORE: Oak Bay top Belmont for boys AAAA Island championship

The Royal Bay Ravens opened the senior girls AAA provincials in Langley with a one-sided loss to Riverside 108-49. That led to another tough draw, R.A. McMath, who upended the Ravens 79-69. The Ravens did well to hang with Argyle in their third match but lost by one basket 82-80. For their final match in the consolation bracket the Ravens defeated North Peace 71-48. Semiahmoo took the AAA girls title, knocking off Walnut Grove 72-61.

At the AA girls provincials - won by South Kamloops - the Lambrick Park Lions fell 67-39 in their opener but clawed back with a win 63-27 over David Thompson in round two, and defeated G.P. Vanier in their third game, 45-39. The run ended when Duchess Park clipped the Lions 68-38, the latter settling for 10th overall.

READ ALSO: Watch: Pacific Christian School score buzzer beater to force overtime

The single-A girls provincials start Wednesday with Glenlyon Gryphons drawing West Point Academy and St. Andrew’s Regional Sabres facing Heritage Christian.

Representing the South Island at this week’s senior boys provincials, March 6 to 9 in Langley, are the Oak Bay Bays and Belmont Bulldogs in the AAAA championships, Reynolds Roadrunners in the AAA tournament, perennial AA powerhouses Lambrick Park Lions and St. Michaels Blue Jaguars and the Glenlyon Norfolk Gryphons in the single-A tournament.

The junior boys provincials finished last week with a promising run by the Claremont Spartans. After winning their first two matches, 63-44 over Duchess Park and 54-48 over Sir Winston Churchill, the Spartans fell in the quarterfinals to eventual champions Burnaby South 66-48. Eventually Claremont slipped to eighth overall. St. Michaels University School, who also advanced to the junior boys provincials, dropped their opener to Terry Fox 65-56 but managed two more wins and a loss, and finished 22nd out of the 32-team field.

At the junior girls provincials the Island-champion Pacific Christian Pacers fell to Yale in the opener 59-40, while the Island runner up Claremont Spartans clipped Hazelton 43-22. The Spartans continued their strong play edging Heritage Woods 47-44 in the second round. That put the Spartans into the quarterfinals where they faced a strong Terry Fox side, losing to the Port Coquitlam team 76-0. Claremont rebounded to win 47-44 over Yale and finished sixth overall after a final loss to Okanagan Mission, 41-34, on Saturday.

It was a tough go for the Pacers as they dropped their second game to St. Thomas More 45-36, though the Pacers did finish out with two wins, 55-26 over Seaquam and a close 47-46 win against rival Belmont Bulldogs.

reporter@saanichnews.com