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Richmond Colts won the city’s Grade 9 boys’ basketball championship.

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Oval hosting boys' Final Four Friday

By Don Fennell

Published 3:09 PST, Tue February 26, 2019

Last Updated: 2:12 PDT, Wed May 12, 2021

Three teams remain in the running to represent Richmond at the 2019 B.C. High School senior boys’ basketball championships March 6 to 9 at Langley Events Centre.

And they’ll have a semblance of home court advantage on their side, with the four berths to be decided this week at the Richmond Olympic Oval.

Two of the Richmond teams will go head-to-head at the Vancouver and District championships Wednesday, with the MacNeill Ravens facing the Richmond Colts at 4:30 p.m. Earlier, at 2:45 p.m., Steveston-London Sharks meet St. Thomas More Knights.

Friday’s Final Four will commence with the third/fourth place game at 2:45 p.m., followed by the regional final at 6:15 p.m.

Second-ranked Richmond scored an 81-73 victory over Lord Byng on Feb. 20, while third- ranked MacNeill outscored Ma- gee 82-73. Top-ranked Charles Tupper got past Steveston-London 86-74. McMath Wildcats were ousted by St Thomas More 53-43 Friday in a last-bid effort to extend their season.

McMath students had plenty of reason to (w)hoop it up this season.

While the school’s senior girls team continues its preparations for next week’s provincial championships at Langley Events Centre, its juvenile girls’ and junior boys’ teams have also fared well. The juvenile girls’ won the regional title with a 55-31 win over Seycove, while the junior boys reached the provincial championships with a second-place finish at the regionals.

Under the guidance of head coach Jon Acob and associate coach Chris Kennedy, McMath’s junior boys’ team then went on a spectacular run at the provincial championships Feb. 23 to 26 at the Langley Events Centre, which was still be played as the Sentinel went to press.

Entering the 32-team tournament as the sixth seed, the Wildcats won their opening game 66-48 over Sahali of Kamloops and then ran off wins over St. Georges Saints and Yale Lions to reach the Final Four.

MacNeill Ravens, which topped St Thomas Aquinas 52-32 in the junior boys’ consolation final at the Vancouver and District championships, also reached the provincials and defeated Heritage Woods 48-43 in their first tournament game before losing 58-42 to St. Patrick.

Burnaby Mountain outscored Hugh Boyd 54-41 in the consolation final of the juvenile girls’ district championships.

Richmond’s three entries in the juvenile boys’ regional champion- ships bowed out early, with league champion Richmond Colts falling 66-51 to Argyle, McMath losing a heartbreaker 44-43 to Burnaby Central and Steveston-London being outscored 38-20 by Burnaby Mountain.

The Lower Mainland bantam girls’ title was decided at MacNeill Secondary, with New Westminster’s Glenbrook Middle School outlasting West Vancouver Highlanders 49-33. Argyle eliminated MacNeill with a 40-37 win, while Handsworth ousted Burnett 47- 33 and Glenbrook topped McNair 38-28 on Feb. 13.

In the bantam boys’ district championships, Richmond Colts dropped a 58-48 decision to Seycove in the consolation final Feb. 19 at Richmond High. Earlier, Seycove eliminated MacNeill 72-54 and Burnaby South eliminated Burnett Breakers 57-22.