New Westminster started the new year with a second-place finish at the G.P. Vanier Towhee boys' basketball tournament last week.
The Hyack boys battled No. 5ranked AA King George to the wire before falling 78-67 in the tournament final.
"I thought we had a good tournament. We were close towards the end, but we went cold in the last four minutes," said Hyack head coach John Doughty.
Dylan Johnson led New West with 22 points in the final game. Massod Walli chipped in with 13 points.
In the semifinal, New Westminster hung on for a 70-66 victory over Point Grey in a back-and-forth matchup.
New West trailed 18-10 after the opening quarter but tied the score at the half. In the third frame, the Hyacks led by as many as 11 points before surviving the turnaround final stanza.
Guard Jordan Zeer led all Hyacks with a season-high 28 points.
New Westminster opened with a 70-62 victory over Ballenas. The Hyacks then knocked off Spectrum 85-48.
Zeer had a team-high 18 points, while Johnson tossed in 16 in the win.
Next up for the Hyacks is the Killarney Cougar Classic tournament.
SOUTH SNOWBALLED
Nick Irvine averaged 26 points per game to help Burnaby South finish with a 2-2 record at the Abbotsford Snowball Classic boys' basketball tournament last weekend.
South dropped a tight 62-61 decision to honourable mention W.J. Mouat in the quarter-finals.
"We played in stretches very well, but we're still in the process of making this work," said South head coach David Smith.
South opened the tourney with a 63-54 win over Kelvin High School from Winnipeg.
The Rebels dropped their thirdround match 74-71 to No. 3 AA G.W. Graham.
South is at the Vancouver College Emerald tournament this weekend.
CARNEYED AT CATHOLICS
The St. Thomas More Knights will likely lose their hard-won B.C. AA No. 1 ranking following a 59-51 loss to Archbishop Carney in the final of the B.C. Catholic boys' basketball tournament on Saturday.
Carney, a AA honourable mention, squeaked by St. Ann's Academy 52-49 in the semifinals.
The Knights earned a berth into the finals with a resounding 56-27 victory over eventual third-place finisher Immaculata. STM led Carney 15-7 at halftime.
Andrew Morris and Denzel Laguerta were both named to the all-tournament first team following the final. Jalen Jana was a second team pick, while Mikey Carney was an honourable mention. Andrew Wu won a $500 scholarship from HSBC.
GIRLS WIN CHANCELLOR
STM's JV girls' basketball team won a junior Chancellor title this weekend.
The Knights edged West Vancouver 45-43 in the girls' final behind an MVP performance from Allexis Lewellyn and first team allstar Meghan Ho.
STM posted one-sided wins over Enver Creek and Terry Fox.
The junior boys were not as lucky, losing in the Chancellor final 70-59 to Semiahmoo.
Reese Morris and J.J. Deslauriers were both named to the all-first team.
STM knocked off King George 49-34 to advance to the tournament final.
The Knights got by David Thompson on the opening day of the tourney 56-49.
