A possible Lower Mainland berth was one quarter too far for the New Westminster Hyacks.
The varsity boys’ Hyacks failed to hold on to a 13-point lead and wound up on the losing end of a 68-63 outcome to the Windermere Warriors in the consolation quarter-final at the Lower Mainland high school quad A boys’ basketball championships in Richmond on Wednesday.
Marcos Ramos pumped in a long-range trey to start the fourth quarter, but Windermere’s player of the game Ravi Basra had other ideas, netting 17 of his game-high 37 points in the final stanza, to keep the No. 7 seed alive. New West was eliminated following the loss.
“We beat them all year. We knew we could do it. We had to be patient,” said Basra after the game.
New West took a 33-31 lead at halftime behind an 18-point first-half effort from guard Airon Nisperos.
The Hyacks extended that lead to eight points by the end of the third quarter and led in double figures to start the fourth before the Warriors went on a 10-point run to close the deficit, punctuated by a Basra three-pointer.
Windermere finished off the Hyacks on an 11-4 run.
“We just didn’t move our feet,” said Nisperos, who led all Hyacks with 26 points. “We tried everything to stop them, but it was a wonderful season for us.”
In quad A semifinal play, Burnaby South advanced to the Mainland final following a 91-48 victory over Vancouver No. 2 David Thompson.
Tyus Batiste scored 25 points, while Nic Trninic did much of the early damage, finishing with 24 points, including 15 first-quarter points.
“We want to peak at the end of March,” said Trninic following the game. “We’ve been working hard for the last seven years together. I couldn’t ask for anything else.”
In AA ball at the Mainlands, the Byrne Creek Bulldogs met St. Thomas More in Thursday’s consolation semifinal (after Recorddeadlnes).
The Bulldogs stayed alive with an 84-69 win over Steveston-London, while STM dropped its semifinal 75-61 to McMath.
Body Geoffrey led the ’Dogs with 26 points, while teammate Malik Holmes chipped in with 18.
“It was a great effort, a lot of hard work and discipline,” said Byrne Creek head coach Bal Dhillon.
No. 2 seeded STM, on the other hand, was at less than its best, allowing the Richmond school to steal the momentum following a 27-12 advantage in the third quarter.
“It was a whole bunch of things,” said a disappointed Knights head coach Aaron Mitchell.
“We had a terrible third quarter. We got down nine, took a punch in the mouth and didn’t hit back.”
Junior guard Cam Morris led the Knights with 20 points.
Burnaby South will meet Winston Churchill in the 4A final at the Richmond Olympic Oval on Friday. Tip-off is at 8 p.m.
