2012 Telus Basketball Classic opens with Sardis and Whiterock grabbing wins
Wednesday, December 5, 2012 – Submitted by ronhole.com
The 2012 Telus Basketball Classic a massive tournament featuring basketball and cheers teams from all across British Columbia , kicked off it’s senior boys play this afternoon at Pitt Meadows Secondary. The senior boys division of the annual tournament features a total of 16 teams, four of which are from the “Fraser Valley Region” including repeat attendees Pitt Meadows and White Rock Christian Academy while Sardis and Archbishop Carney also were selected to compete in this year’s tournament.
Pitt Meadows – Sardis
Sardis forward Heyden Lejelene find himself all alone for an easy bucket in Falcons 61-57 win over the Marauders
The opening game, played before a bleacher full of the Pitt Meadows student body featured the home Marauders against the visiting Sardis Falcons. The Marauders, off to a slow start coming into this game with a record of 1-4 met up with perhaps the hottest team in the Valley District as the Falcons came into the game with a 4-0 record, including wins over AAA 5th ranked WJ Mouat, and AA 2nd ranked Holy Cross.
Sardis forward Heyden Lejelene find himself all alone for an easy bucket in Falcons 61-57 win over the Marauders
Sardis forward Heyden Lejelene find himself all alone for an easy bucket in Falcons 61-57 win over the Marauders
Sardis established their game plan early as they took the ball into the paint relying on their big man, Heyden Lejelene for 10 of their opening quarter points. Pitt for their part, running their familiar flex offense, spread their scoring across five players as the quarter ended 12-9 Falcons.
Both offenses came to life in the second quarter, with Sardis again relying heavily on Lejelene, who would drop another 10, while the Marauders Alejandro Canjura would answer with seven against the 1-3-1 zone that Sardis employed off and on as the half ended 30-29 Falcons.
Lejelene would pick up his third and fourth fouls early in the 3rd quarter and Pitt Meadows immediately went on a huge 14-0 run before Sardis inserted him back into the game with 3:20 remaining. The Falcons would trade baskets with Pitt and would end the quarter down 12, 49-37.
As big as Pitt’s run through the 3rd quarter was, the Falcons replied with a 17-0 run of their own to open the fourth, putting them up 54-49. Pitt would close too within two with Lejelene picking up his fifth foul but would fall at home to the Falcons, 61-57.
Lejelene led all scorers with 26 points while Jason Kroeker also hit double figures at 10 for the Falcons. Pitts scoring was led by Canjura and Sho Nashimoto with 12 while Jordan Rich would drop 10.
White Rock – Archbishop Carney
WRCA’s Vartan Tanielian shoots over a Carney defender in the Warriors 86-49 win over the Stars
The second game featured a battle of the independent schools and this one was no contest from the opening tip. The White Rock Christian Academy, known throughout the lower mainland as a basketball school had little trouble dispatching Archbishop Carney, a soccer powerhouse, 86-49.
WRCA’s Vartan Tanielian shoots over a Carney defender in the Warriors 86-49 win over the Stars
WRCA’s Vartan Tanielian shoots over a Carney defender in the Warriors 86-49 win over the Stars
Not that ABC did not put up a fight, they were just simply out manned at every position. Even with star guard, Tyus Allen on the bench for most of the first half with two early fouls, the Warriors were able to stretch a 17-8 lead midway through the first to a 28-12 lead after one.
In the second quarter the Stars big man Patrick Simon was able to do a small amount of damage in the paint, picking up nine points, including five from the stripe but shooting guard Vartan Tanielian was able to counter that from the perimeter as he would hit two treys and 10 points in the quarter as the half would end 47-28 in favor of White Rock Christian.
In the 3rd Simon would be the only Star to score more than two points as he had four of ABC’s 10 points while WRCA would put up 15, again with Allen on the bench with three fouls, and the quarter ended 62-38.
The fourth featured the return of Allen and he wasted little time finishing off his stat line as he would score 10 points in the frame to close out the game.
Tanielian led all scores with 26 including four from beyond the arc. Allen, recovering from his early fouls trouble scored 19 in limited minutes. Simon would drop 21 for ABC while Alex Beauman would hit double figures with 10.
The games at Pitt Meadows resume tomorrow at 1:30 with Pitt Meadows taking on Archbishop Carney while the two winners from today, WRCA and Sardis will play in the quarter finals game at 3:00, each looking to move to the semi-finals being held at Churchill high school in Vancouver Friday evening.
More information and full stats, schedule and scholarship information can be found at the tournament website Telus Basketball Classic.