The D.P. Todd Trojans knew their odds of beating the Nechako Valley Vikes in Saturday’s North Central zone final were on a lottery-win scale - highly unlikely.
They’d seen the Vikes flex their muscles a day earlier when they played them in the preliminary round at the four-team double-A boys basketball tournament at Shas Ti Kelly Road gym and lost by 29 points.
Loaded with senior team veterans Jeremy Pagdin, Tanton Mueller, Brendon McGee, Tim Teichroeb and Tristin Ellis, the Gary Simrose-coached Vikes were unrelenting in their pursuit of the zone title and they defeated the Trojans 77-39 to claim the lone berth in the 16-team provincial tournament in Langley, March 9-12.
“Obviously it’s a great group of kids that school has and it was a really competitive game,” said Trojans head coach Harsh Bhanga. “Even though Vanderhoof had a lead it didn’t feel like they were up too much because every possession we were fighting competing.”
For the Trojans, just getting to the final was a big deal.
D.P. Todd struggled throughout a COVID-interrupted season to find enough players to bring a team to the court. None of the nine players who played in the weekend zone tournament were with the senior team that won the North Central crown in 2020, the last year it had been contested, and Bhanga admits he had some doubts the team would survive.
But it did, and the Trojans thrived when it counted most. But it took a buzzer-beating play to ensure they made it as far as the final.
“We started the season under-manned and it was a tough season for us, just having low bodies and not being able to get into the gym to practice much, but we were able to get some kids involved who were not originally involved just so we could continue the season,” said Bhanga.
“It was kind of a Cinderella story for us to beat Shas Ti Kelly Road and go to the final against a very talented, well-coached Vanderhoof team. They tried to set up a match with us all year but we were never actually able to play them just because of the issues we were having with getting bodies.”
Facing the host Shas Ti Kelly Road Grizzlies for the second time in a playoff game Saturday morning to determine who qualified for the final, Trojans guard Makin McLeod made a last-second layup to beat the Grizzlies 62-61. The winning play was made possible by McLeod’s twin brother Kalen, who stole the Ball from the Grizzlies with five seconds left and got the ball up to Raj Bhanga, who spotted Makin on the run.
“That was a crazy game and we were able to win as the buzzer sounded,” said coach Bhanga. “We didn’t go into the final expecting we could beat Vanderhoof, but for us to get that second-place trophy and bring it back to our school is such a big deal for us. We went from almost folding halfway through the season to bringing home second place.”
Shas Ti Kelly Road beat Peter Skene Ogden of 100 Mile House 61-40 for third place.
Meanwhile, at the junior A boys provincial championship in Langley, the North Central zone-champion Duchess Park Condors lost their first two games Saturday, 62-45 to Brookswood of Langley and 73-32 to Handsworth of North Vancouver. The Prince George Polars also dropped to 0-2, losing 67-43 to Kelowna on Saturday, followed by a 59-52 loss to Summerland on Sunday.
Duchess Park will play R.E. Mountain of Langley Monday at 11 a.m., while PGSS is matched with Nanaimo District Monday at 5 p.m.
The girls provincial tournaments stat Wednesday in Langley. The Prince George teams involved are College Heights and Duchess Park (triple-A), Shas Ti Kelly Road (double-A) and Duchess Park (junior A).
