Burnaby South Rebels nab quad-A boys title
‘We are the deepest team in the province,’ says proud coach Bell after win over Semiahmoo
The Burnaby South Rebels were underdogs with an asterisk. They were the No. 8 seeds for the quad-A boys basketball provincial championships this past week. They lost 90-66 to the triple-A Byrne Creek Bulldogs in their league finale a month ago and, with their season on the line, they defeated the Kitsilano Blue Demons 80-66 two weeks ago to land the third and final berth out of the Lower Mainland zone to the B.C. tournament.
Smart basketball people swore, though, they were loaded with talent. They insisted they were capable of being a dangerous team if they could get on the same page. They even held down the No. 1 spot in Howard Tsumura’s official provincial rankings at varsityletters.ca in early December.
It wasn’t the first year that had been the scouting report on Burnaby South.
These Rebels banded together and they have a B.C. banner to show for it.
Burnaby South beat the No. 6 Semiahmoo Totems 80-72 Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre before an estimated crowd of about 4,000. They had a variety of players make contributions throughout their four-day run, which included defeating the top-seeded Oak Bay Bays of Victoria 78-66 on Thursday.
Burnaby South has their first provincial title at the top of level of boys hoops since 1979, when coach Mike Jones’ team beat the Richmond Colts in the triple-A title game. And coaches around the province now have a shining example of promise fulfilled thanks to working as a unit.
“You can look at previous years and we had really talented rosters, and the problem was the chemistry and the teamwork and the hustle,” admitted Burnaby South centre Sasha Vujisic, a Grade 10 with seemingly an old soul. “We had a pretty talented roster this year, too. We made it our goal, and our coach especially, to make us a team. To get rid of the ‘I’ and make it ‘we’ and ‘our.’
“At the start of the season, there was still a lot of selfishness. That’s why we lost games that people expected us to win. When it came down to the Kitsilano game and it was all or nothing, we put our own goals aside and we played for each other.”
Guard Baltej Sohal was one of the better examples of what Burnaby South became about this week. The school’s junior team last year won the provincial final, and Sohal was voted tournament most valuable. He had 13 points combined in the first three games of this tournament. When they needed someone else to step up against Surrey-based Semiahmoo, Sohal put together a 17-point night and was later named the Quinn Keast Foundation player of the game.
You could easily understand why veteran Rebels coach Mike Bell was emotional afterwards. He knew what was possible. He knew what could go sideways.
Burnaby South winning it all is logical and surprising at the very same time. You don’t claim that often.
“I’m loving this,” Bell said, unsuccessfully fighting back tears in the process. “It means a ton to the program. These boys became men today. They battled to get here. They battled for everything.
“Teams haven’t jelled at the older ages. To have this team jell is amazing.
“We are the deepest team in the province. We also have the deepest coaching staff in the province. What other team has five coaches? Our coaching staff is amazing.”
Burnaby South winning with their depth made for difficult decisions for the tournament all-star committee. They opted for Rebels forward Jusuf Sehic as most valuable player. He put up 18 points and 10 rebounds against the Totems. He had 17 points and 17 rebounds in that victory over Oak Bay.
Miguel Tomley, the Tamanawis Wildcats guard who is commonly considered the province’s best player, could have taken the award. He scored 66 points Saturday in the No. 2 seed’s 100-76 win over the No. 13 Belmont Bulldogs of Victoria in the third-place game, and totalled 180 points over his four games with his Surrey-based team, setting a tournament scoring record.
The previous mark of 167 belonged to Nathan Vogstad of Queen Charlotte in the 2014 tournament. Vogstad set a single-game scoring mark that year with a 75-point outing.
Tomley was joined on the first allstar team by Vujisic, Adam Paige and Vlad Mihaila of Semiahmoo and James Woods of Langley’s Walnut Grove Gators. Paige was also picked as the tournament’s top defensive player.
Burnaby South came in at No. 5 in Tsumura’s pre-season provincial rankings. Semiahmoo was No. 7.