Trojans impress at basketball provincials
The D.P. Todd Trojans’ renewal project is now complete.
The Trojans, reformed this season after nearly three years away from the senior boys basketball scene, capped off a successful season on a winning note Saturday at the double-A boys provincial championship in Langley.
Coached by Greg Sale, a former Trojan who twice won national championships with the University of Alberta, D.P. Todd finished ninth out of 16 teams in the provincial tournament.
The Trojans defeated the Collingwood Cavaliers of West Vancouver 68-64 Saturday morning in the ninth- and 10th-place game.
The only game the 12th-ranked Trojans lost in Langley came in their tournament opener, a 72-66 defeat to the Seacove Seahawks of North Vancouver. The Trojans followed that with wins over R,.C. Palmer (68-50) and Pacific Academy (77-56).
The Seahawks went on to win bronze, defeating Westsyde of Kamloops 69-64, after losing a semifinal to the eventual champions, Brentwood College of Mill Bay. Brentwood beat the King George Dragons of Vancouver 97-55 in the final.
The Trojans won the 2014 Prince George City League title and played one more season after that but had insufficient numbers to form a team the next two seasons. This year’s team has a 10-player roster which includes four Grade 10 players.
The Trojans advanced to the City League championship, losing in the final to the Duchess Park Condors. D.P. Todd went on to claim the north central zone double-A title.
Meanwhile, in the triple-A boys provincial tournament in Langley, the Duchess Park Condors came up one point shy in Saturday’s playoff against the Sir Charles Tupper Tigers of Vancouver to decide fifth and sixth place.
Soren Erricson just missed a buzzer-beater layup attempt that bounced in and out of the hoop as time expired and the Condors lost 75-74.
Erricson led the Condors with 25 points in the game and his three-point shot tied it with 90 seconds left. Duchess Park played most of the game without their quarterback, Grade 12 point guard Colburn Pearce, who took an elbow above his eye and suffered a cut which required stitches. He left early in the second quarter and came back to play the last three minutes of the game.
Cody Boulding, Malcolm MacDonald and Garet Anderson, all Grade 12 seniors, fouled out.
The Condors finished with a 2-2 record. They defeated the Rick Hansen Hurricanes of Abbotsford 88-65 in their opener, lost to the South Kamloops Titans 62-44 in the quarterfinal round, then beat Richmond 98-69.
South Kamloops captured the B.C. banner, beating the Byrne Creek Bulldogs of Burnaby 74-66 in Saturday’s final. North Delta topped Pitt Meadows 96-52 for bronze.