After a stumble at the start of the Vancouver College Emerald senior boys high school basketball tournament, the Pitt Meadows Marauders rebounded to finish fourth in the eight-team tourney by downing the White Rock Christian Academy Warriors 70-65 Saturday.
The Marauders jumped out to a 19-7 lead, but WCRA came back to take a five-point lead in the second half before Pitt Meadows prevailed. Marauders head coach Rich Goulet said, “The intensity of this game was playoff worthy.”
Malcolm Williams netted 25 points despite fouling out with four minutes left in the game. Mitsu Iwai scored 14 points, while Trevor Severinski had 11 and also grabbed 13 rebounds. Matt Blackaby was a defensive force with 10 steals.
On Friday, Pitt Meadows defeated Surrey’s Tamanawis Wildcats 58-38, with Williams leading the way with 18 points, while Severinski had 12 with nine rebounds. The Marauders started off strong taking an early 24-5 lead and at halftime were up 32-14 over the Wildcats, who were ninth in the provincial AAA rankings.
The Marauders went into the tournament ranked fourth but ran up against second-ranked Kelowna in the Emerald’s first round. They lost 71-64 to the Owls despite a 26-point performance from Williams and 21 points from Blackaby. Goulet said turnovers proved costly, with Kelowna collecting 20 or more points off them in the early going.
With the result, Pitt Meadows improved to 18-4 heading into Tuesday’s league game against the Walnut Grove Gators in Langley. They go to Port Moody to take on the Blues on Thursday in another league game before White Rock Christian visits the Marauders on Friday, 8 p.m.
Last week, the University of B.C. announced Williams, a 6-foot-2 guard, would be attending the Point Grey institution next season.
In a press release, UBC head coach Kevin Hanson said Williams will benefit from being behind fifth-year players Nathan Yu, Melvyn Mayott and Doug Plumb, a former Pitt Meadows resident, in his first season with the Thunderbirds.
“He can score inside and out and comes from a winning program,” said Hanson in the release. “He’ll get the chance to get a year under his belt but then we are expecting him to step up and be an impact player for our program.”
• The Maple Ridge Ramblers, ninth in the B.C. AAA senior girls rankings, defeated Port Coquitlam’s Pinetree Timberwolves 80-41 in a Fraser Valley league game last Thursday. The Ramblers, 2-1 in league play, will take on the Centennial Centaurs of Coquitlam, who are 3-1, Thursday.