The Pitt Meadows Marauders host The Terry Fox Ravens Friday night with first place in the Fraser Valley North up for grabs.
The Marauders have gone 8-0 in league, and have enjoyed three wins in the past week. Tuesday night they beat Heritage Woods 89-46, in a game that saw every player on the roster save one score a basket.
Alejandro Canjura led Pitt with 25 points and Jordan Rich scored 21.
Saturday they played stifling defence in a 62-28 win over Gleneagle – a team that has finished its regular season schedule with a tidy 8-2 record.
Head couch Rick Goulet said a straightforward defensive adjustment has made a big difference in the Pitt half of the court.
“We went to a zone, because we weren’t stopping anybody man-to-man,” said Goulet said. “It seems to clear our minds to be better on offence.”
Sebastien Marshall was the top scorer with 20 points, and Rich had 15.
Last Friday they doubled Port Moody 84-42, as Canjura scored 18 and grade 11 forward Jordan Dasilva had 12.
First place is on the line against the Ravens.
Fox has just one blemish on their record this season with a 7-1 record, but through eight games had scored almost 100 fewer points than Pitt.
still, with a win on Friday night, Fox could still steal first place – if both teams finished 9-1, the tie-breaker would be their head-to-head game.
Goulet is happy with the way his team is playings the playoffs loom.
“I can’t be unhappy. We had that horrendous start, and floundered trying to get our act together in games,” he said.
They faced tough competition in tournaments in Hawaii, Bellingham and the Legal Beagle.
“Since then, everything has been on the up.”
He went to the bench a lot during that time, and the result is that he has a deep, confident team.
At stake Friday is home court advantage through the upcoming league playoffs, set for next week.
Pitt Meadows will host the seventh or eighth-seeded team on Wednesday night at 7:45 p.m. in the opening round. The semi-finals will then be held on Friday, and the finals on Saturday.
The Marauders played North Surrey last night in a road game, but results were not known in time for publication.
In other action
On Tuesday night Walnut Grove beat Maple Ridge 66-33 in Abbotsford West play, dropping the Ramblers to 1-5 in league action.
Also in Abbotsford West, Westview suffered losses to MEI 91-40 on Tuesday, and Walnut Grove 96-25 on Saturday, and are winless in seven league outings.