Elphinstone, Chatelech and Pender Harbour Secondary Schools finished third, fourth and fifth respectively at the 2008 Cougar Classic senior boys basketball tournament last weekend in Gibsons.
The first game of the eight-team tournament, which also saw St. John's, Rockridge, West Point Grey (WPG), Pemberton and the Elphinstone junior boys team compete, set the mood for the entire tournament, as the Cougars entertained Pender Harbour.
With a crowd of more than 400 students, staff and parents filling the Elphi bleachers, Elphi put on quite a show, building a solid lead against the always-improving Sakinaws on their way to a 67-43 win.
Zach Ruggles was awarded player of the game.
Chatelech was also strong in its opener, picking up a 71-57 win over Rockridge, while WPG toppled the Elphi juniors 84-23.
With those opening round wins, Elphi, Pemberton, Chat and WPG stayed in the championship side of the draw, while Pender Harbour, St. John's, Rockridge and the Elphi juniors moved to the consolation side of the draw.
Friday night was capped off with the annual three-point showdown. Zach was a huge favourite to win, but Derrick Singh from WPG came out on top, beating out Elphi's Mitch Rainer in the final.
On Saturday morning, Elphi squared off against the Pemberton Red Devils in what turned out to be the game of the tournament.
Tied at 72 with three seconds left, Mitchell managed to steal the ball, out letting to Brian Jones, who couldn't manage to put it in before the buzzer, sending the teams to overtime. The Cougars made some mental mistakes during regulation, and those mistakes carried over to the extra frame, with Pemberton eventually knocking off Elphi 88-78. With the win, Pemberton moved on to the final, while Elphi dropped down to the third/fourth place game to play Chat, that lost 67-51 to WPG.
In the battle for third, Elphi and Chat hooked up in an entertaining contest. Although it lacked the intensity of a real final, both teams still played hard, with Elphi prevailing 54-47.
In the championship final, WPG overwhelmed Pemberton 67-48 to claim the championship.
On the consolation side, Pender beat St. John's 80-60 and Rockridge 54-46 to finish fifth, while the Elphi juniors knocked off St. John's 55-44 to finish seventh.
Tournament all-stars included Andrew Baron from Elphi, Oliver Telfer from the Elphi juniors and Rod Abengoza from Chat.- With files from Brian Jones
