Bulldogs sink teeth in Gators’ dream to repeat in tight fight
Sir Winston Churchill nets semifinal date with lethal Wildcats
As mountains to climb go, this one must have looked like Kilimanjaro to the Walnut Grove Gators.
The defending champions from Langley dug themselves a huge 21- point first- quarter hole, yet almost reached the summit in their quarter- final game Thursday against Vancouver’s Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs at the B. C. high school boys’ 4A basketball championship at the Langley Events Centre.
The Gators, who were trying to not only repeat but make it to their third consecutive championship final, cut the Churchill lead to two points late in the fourth quarter before falling 75- 70 in a highly entertaining contest.
The game looked to be all but over after Churchill, led by swingman Mindy Minhas, stormed out to a 31- 10 lead after the first quarter.
But the Gators chipped away at that lead, which was cut to nine by halftime.
“I thought we dug our way out of the hole,” said Walnut Grove coach George Bergen. “We just didn’t sustain it. We made it into a game but then didn’t sustain our efforts. ”
Minhas had 28 points and 13 rebounds, both game- highs, to lead the Bulldogs, who will meet the Tamanawis Wildcats of Surrey in one of two semifinal games Friday night.
“Monstrous, monstrous,” Churchill head coach Rick Lopez said of Minhas. “He just puts us on his back and carries us. He’s not afraid ... it’s just unbelievable. He’s always in there rebounding. The kid has a motor that doesn’t stop. His engine is just unbelievable. I keep looking at him thinking maybe he’s tired and he looks at me and just keeps going. ”
The game was payback of sorts for the Bulldogs, who lost 74- 62 in last year’s quarterfinals to the Gators.
“Walnut Grove knocked us out last year and you know how kids are,” Lopez said. “They want incentive. That was the incentive.”
Churchill certainly looked like the hungrier team at the start. Walnut Grove couldn’t seem to handle Churchill’s speed.
“They are very energetic, I call it live with their feet,” Bergen said. “They are quick and they were moving. They caught us by surprise.”
Minhas said he was a little surprised to have such a big lead so early and acknowledged that playing with that big a cushion is not easy.
“It was difficult,” he said. “After a big lead you can’t let up, especially against a team like Walnut Grove who have a player like Jadon ( Cohee). You know they are going to keep on going the whole game, they are going to be relentless.”
Cohee, last year’s tournament MVP who will be attending Seattle University this fall, helped lead the Gators’ comeback. He finished with a teamhigh 21 points.
“That is a good team,” Lopez said of the Gators. “We came out hot and basketball is a game of streaks. They got on their roll and we just had to weather the storm and just keep hanging in there. They just kept chipping away, chipping away. The 1- 3- 1 ( defence) caused us a little hesitation. We were getting good looks but some of our younger players were just a bit hesitant in really wanting to finish.”
Churchill, is trying to become the first public Vancouver school, other than Kitsilano, to win the B. C. title since Magee did it in 1961.
They figure to have their hands full today against Tamanawis. The Wildcats-beat the Burnaby South Rebels 74- 60 in their quarter- final game on Thursday.
BASELINES: Today’s other semifinal features the Sardis Falcons against Surrey’s Holy Cross Crusaders. Sardis beat Coquitlam’s Gleneagle Talons 81- 62, while Holy Cross beat the Vancouver College Fighting Irish 77- 60.