The Chat bantam boys are off to the playoffs.
On Monday afternoon, Chat picked up a 50-48 win over Rockridge in West Vancouver in their final league game.
Chat finishes the season with a league record of 4-3 and is the sixth seed in the playoffs. Chat faces Balmoral on Wednesday, Feb. 15, in its first playoff game.
Chat seemed in control on Monday's game against Rockridge.
Chat led 18-9 after one, 31-19 at halftime and 41-29 after three quarters. But Rockridge opened up the final quarter on fire. Lingweeny Cobarto hit four of five from three-point territory to give the Ravens some hope. But Chat weathered the storm and had just enough left in the tank to hold on for the win.
"This was the first game with every player scoring, and the points were well distributed," said Chat coach Sean Smith. "Matt Brown had another fine game and led the way with 10 points. Paul Desautels and Zander Reid scored eight apiece, while Grant Mayers and Eli Paradis each dropped in seven. Oliver Telfer created a number of offensive chances for himself and his teammates and enjoyed his best game as an Eagle player."
In junior boys' action, Chat finished the season with a 2-9 record in league play. Elphi finished at 1-10, losing its final contest 45-42 to Balmoral on Feb. 2. Both teams failed to qualify for the playoffs.
In senior boys, the zone playoffs started this week. On Wednesday, Chat played Elphi (past deadline) with the winner going onto to play Howe Sound Thursday. The winner of that game plays Sentinel today (Feb. 10).
The Elphi senior boys will play an alumni game against past Cougar players at the school on Feb. 14 at 5 p.m.
Also on Feb. 23, Elphi will play host to the Golden Hoop challenge pitting all the boys' teams from Elphi against all the Chat boys' teams. Action starts at the school at 12 p.m. with the Grade 8 game and concludes with the senior boys at 3 p.m.
In senior girls, the Elphi Cougars start the Lower Mainland playoffs Monday at Windsor Secondary School in West Vancouver.
Twelve teams are involved in the playdowns (four from independent schools, four from the North Shore, one from Vancouver, two from Richmond and one from Burnaby/New West).
The top seeded teams, Steveston, Sutherland, York House and McMath, are all ranked in the top 10 provincially and will get a first round bye. The other eight teams will play a single-knockout format on Monday. The winners from those games move on to a double-knockout round, which starts Tuesday.
"We have to win the first game to keep playing. It's pretty simple what we have to do," said Elphi coach Lynn Moran.
