Chilliwack’s Unity Christian Flames are back on top. The school’s boys basketball team has won the provincial championships, after a narrow loss in 2023.
They clinched the title on Saturday (March 9) at the Langley Events Centre against Haida Gwaii’s Gidgalang Kuuyas Naay Breakers, the underdogs going into the tournament.
This year’s championship game was another close one, with the Flames trailing by six entering the fourth quarter. But according to the game report on the BC School Sports website, the boys closed that lead with a 10-2 run to take the win.
It wasn’t without a fight, as the Breakers had a chance at a game-tying three-pointer. That heart-stopping shot hit the rim, though, and the game ended with a 74-71 win for the Flames.
“That fourth quarter was kind of an out-of-body experience,” said Unity Christian head coach David Bron.
Unity Christian went into the event as the number one seeded team, and despite coming just shy of the trophy in 2023, they had won the two previous years.
“When you are ranked first, you expect to play a certain way, and then you don’t, so I could tell the guys were down,” Bron said.
Those final moments of the game were a turnaround, though, and the squad rallied when it mattered the most.
“My guys finally lit up; it was a grind until then,” the coach explained.
As for the Breakers, they were the tournament’s sixth seed and had already dispatched both the number three and two seeds on their way to the championship game. It was a first in the history of their program.
Both Most Valuable Player Jay Smiens and Second Team All-Star Ryder Vanderkooi finished with 22 points apiece, with Vanderkooi also hauling in 19 rebounds while Smiens had 10. Both players also finished with a pair of blocked shots.
Levi Burton led the Breakers with 20 points, eight assists and five rebounds while Trace Swain had 19 points and eight rebounds. The Breakers’ Greg Puterill was named the Championship Player of the Game with 11 rebounds, 10 rebounds and five steals, as well as a blocked shot.
In the bronze medal game, it was the St. Ann’s Academy Crusaders defeating Maple Ridge Christian 85-71. Maple Ridge Christian was also named the Most Sportsmanlike Team.
Both Gidgalang Kuuyas Naay’s Burton and Temo Laughlin were named to the First Team as all-stars, alongside Unity Christian’s Ryun Fukumoto, St. Ann’s Academy’s Nash Pearce and Maple Ridge Christian’s Carson Barber.
The Second Team All-Stars were Puterill, Vanderkooi, Viv Anderson Francois (St. John’s School), Darion Euastache Peone (Similkameen) and Mauro Lama (St. Ann’s Academy).
The championships began March 6, and Unity dominated the court right through their first and second games, winning 78-37 against Fort St. James, and then 94-42 against Golden in the quarter-finals. They won their semi-final game against St. Ann’s, 63-77.
Unity has now won both provincial basketball 1A championships for the school year.
The girls team won their final game with a score of 85-73 over Victoria’s Pacific Christian Pacers on March 2 at Langley Events Centre.
READ MORE: Chilliwack’s Unity Christian takes senior girls basketball title