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Hoop Thunderbirds head to B.C. tourney

The Cowichan Thunderbirds will compete for a provincial title
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The Cowichan Thunderbirds will head to the B.C. High School Boys 4A Basketball Championships in Langley

The Cowichan Thunderbirds will compete for a provincial title.

The T-Birds qualified for the 2016 B.C. High School Boys 4A Basketball Championships, by virtue of their second-place finish over the weekend at the Island tournament in Nanaimo.

Cowichan beat Belmont Bulldogs of Victoria 72-69 in their opening game, which qualified them for a spot in the Island final (and the B.C.’s). They fell 89-57 to the Oak Bay Bays in Saturday’s final contest.

The provincial championships take place March 9-12 at the Langley Events Centre.

Against Oak Bay (ranked No. 4 in B.C.), the T-Birds fell behind 30-13 after the first quarter and trailed 50-23 at halftime. A stronger second half (outscored by just five points) wasn’t enough.

Humza Khan led the way for Cowichan with 15 points, while Noah Charles (14) and Eston Unrau (12) also hit double figures.

Tournament MVP Madhu McConnell led the winners with 23 points, while Aoi Yamaguchi had 15.

“We had a slow start on offence, but were hanging in for most of the first quarter,” said Cowichan coach Lucky Wallia. “We were down 16-9 with about three minutes left. We turned it over a couple of times, and they quickly converted on those for points. We did not manage to overcome their run at the end of the first quarter, and start of the second quarter. They are a strong team.”

Against Belmont, Charles erupted for 32 points as the T-Birds won a nail-biter. Cowichan trailed for much of the contest, finally taking the lead for good with 1:50 left in the game.

Unrau added 20 points for the victors.

“A fun game to be involved in,” said Wallia. “We started slowly, only scoring eight points in the first quarter, but we did win each of the next three quarters.”

Wallia said Matt Miller and Nirmal Hayer had strong games for the winners.

Both Charles and Unrau were named to the tourney’s first all-star team, along with Donte Bull of Belmont and Jaden Touchie and Myka Tang-Blumenschein of Oak Bay.

Jackson Leeder (Belmont), Zach Manns (Claremont), Chase Hobenshield (GP Vanier) and Quinn Mirau and Jeff Webb of Dover Bay made the second all-star team.

Touchie was named the best defensive player.

“We are excited to have qualified for the provincial tournament,” said Wallia. “We now have just over a week to prepare, and keep improving before heading over there.”