Churchill survives OT thriller to topple Tamanawis in semis
Bulldogs, Holy Cross Crusaders face off for title in 4A final
The Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs spent just one week earlier this season atop the provincial rankings, but now have a chance to be the only No. 1 that really matters.
The Bulldogs knocked off the top- ranked Tamanawis Wildcats of Surrey 68- 66 in overtime Friday to advance to the final of the B. C. high school boys’ 4A basketball championship at the Langley Events Centre.
Grade 12 swingman Mindy Minhas once again led the way for the Wildcats with a gamehigh 28 points and 16 rebounds. But Churchill also got huge contributions from Minhas’s younger brother Gary and Grade 10 forward Harry Liu to advance to the provincial final for the first time in school history.
“I can’t describe the feeling right now to get to the final,” Mindy Minhas said. “I have been dreaming about this the past couple of months and we got it and it feels amazing.”
The Bulldogs will meet the Holy Cross Crusaders of Surrey, who beat the Sardis Falcons 73- 68 in Friday’s second semifinal. Forward Jonathan Kongbo led the Crusaders with 19 points and 11 rebounds. The championship games goes at 8 p. m. Saturday. Holy Cross entered the tournament as the sixth seed, while Churchill was No. 5.
In their quarter- final win Thursday over defending champion Walnut Grove of Langley, the Bulldogs built a 21- point first- quarter lead and never trailed. On Friday, Churchill had to battle from behind early.
Tamanawis drained five threepointers in the first quarter and raced to a 21- 13 lead.
“They always do that,” Churchill coach George Lopez said of the Wildcats. “You watch them and they hit threes all day long. We talked about not really helping off the guys that much and, you know, if they are going to beat us, let them two us to death.”
The Wildcats’ outside shooters went cold the rest of the way, as they hit only two three- pointers the rest of the night, finishing the game 7- of- 36 from behind the three- point line.
Churchill got some big threes of their own in the fourth quarter from Liu to make a late run and force overtime. Liu drained backtoback threes midway through the fourth quarter to help erase a six- point Tamanawis lead and then drained another one in overtime to give Churchill the lead for good.
“In the first half I was a little bit off but my teammate Gary ( Minhas) at halftime coming out he said, ‘ I want the Churchill Harry back, I want the one who hits all those threes, goes to the rack and gets all those points,’ ” Liu said. “I listened to his words and came out and shot the ball. This is the greatest feeling in the world.” Liu finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Gary Minhas, meanwhile, helped Churchill regain momentum after that tough first quarter with some strong drives to the basket. He had 13 points and seven boards for the Bulldogs.
“We talked about being aggressive,” Lopez said. “That team plays good defence and if you go soft you can’t get to the rim. He started taking it aggressive, challenging them. That’s what it is all about, challenging them. They have been No. 1 all year, we had an opportunity to knock them off and we did.”
The Wildcats had won 27 straight games coming into Friday’s semifinal. They were led by guard Sukhjot Bains, who scored 24 points and hauled down 13 rebounds. Bains fouled out with 1: 15 left in the fourth quarter after being called for a controversial charge.
Forward Sukhman Sandhu chipped in 14 points and 16 rebounds for the Wildcats, who held a 54- 48 edge on the boards.
Mindy Minhas’s 28- point night included a four- point play late in the second quarter.
“Mindy is Mindy,” Lopez said. ” He is just a horse. He has so much energy. He played the whole game except for a minute or two, rebounding, offence, everything. He was unbelievable.”
Lopez looked more exhausted than his players after the game.
“It just means so much for our school, all the alumni, for the support we have had,” he said. “It’s great for these kids, they have worked so, so hard to get here. I am just so happy for them and so proud of them. We just have to go home, go to bed, hydrate and hope we have some energy tomorrow.” BASELINES: In Triple
A action, the Charles Hays Rainmakers of Prince Rupert advanced to Saturday’s final with a 73- 65 win over the Mark Isfeld Ice of Courtenay. They will meet the St. Thomas More Knights of Burnaby. The Knights won their semifinal 73- 71 over the Abbotsford Panthers. The Triple- A final goes at 6 p. m., followed by the 4A championship game ... Churchill will try to become the first Vancouver public school other than Kitsilano to win the provincials since Magee did it in 1961.