On Tuesday night, Feb. 27, in front of a sold-out, frenzied crowd at Langley Events Centre, the unranked Terry Fox Ravens were crowned champions, defeating the St. Patrick Celtics 59-55 to win the 2024 Junior Boys Basketball Invitational Tournament title.
After going 0-fer from beyond the arc in their semi-final victory on Monday, Ravens head coach Rich Chambers knew that had to change if they wanted any chance of beating a tough Celtics squad.
“We finally hit some shots, I knew we couldn’t beat these guys unless we made some shots and the kids made some shots,” the long-time coach said of his Ravens squad, which went from failing to make a single three-point attempt, to 24 hours later nailing eight triples.
What an end to the 2024 @BCJrBoysBBall tournament as fans were treated to an epic championship game at @LangleyEvents pic.twitter.com/sKSRi0zbMt
— TFSE TV (@TFSETV) February 28, 2024
The championship is the first for the Terry Fox program since winning it all back in 2002, and Chambers admitted that, had you asked him on that first day what he thought his team’s chances were of being the last one standing, and he would have said impossible just because of the fact the squad was so young, starting a trio of Grade 9s.
Tonight, Bandits head coach and GM @kylejulius33 was at the @BCJrBoysBBall final to present its MVP award. 👏
— Vancouver Bandits (@vancitybandits) February 28, 2024
Congratulations to Jayson Ikani and to @TFSAthletics on capturing a championship. 🏆#LikeABandit pic.twitter.com/DtkZRT231B
The 32-team, four-day tournament was co-hosted by Brookswood Secondary and R.E. Mountain Secondary and ran from Feb. 24-27.
R.E. Mountain Eagles won one and lost four, while Brookswood Bobcats won two and lost three.
READ ALSO: Girls high school basketball championships bringing 64 teams to Langley courts
READ ALSO: LEC hosts Langley district basketball championships