Three times in a month, the South Okanagan Hornets have turned back the Fulton Maroons.
The Buzz bounced the Maroons 78-72 in Saturday night’s final of the 12-team G.W. Graham Grizzlies Senior Boys Basketball Showcase in Chilliwack.
This time, the Maroons sputtered early and found their groove later to make things interesting down the stretch.
“It was a great second half,” said Fulton coach Dale Olson. “We couldn’t hit anything in the first half and started to get it going in the second. We are getting much better every week. We are still missing two starters (Darrien Broomfield and Davron Polok) to injury so it will make quite a difference when they get back.”
Mike Rouault and Tye Kitzman represented Fulton on the tournament first all-star team. Rouault supplied 26 points and 17 rebounds in the final, while Kitzman registered 20 points and a dozen boards.
Gurkamal Dhaliwal of South Okanagan was named the Showcase MVP. The Maroons hosted the Seaton Sonics in North Zone AA league action Tuesday night. The Fulton alumni games goes Saturday with registration at 10:30 a.m.
In Okanagan Senior AAA Boys League play, the VSS Panthers split games Saturday at Okanagan Mission, stopping the NorKam Saints 86-82 after falling 88-76 to the Sa-Hali Sabres of Kamloops.
John Garvie flushed 33 points, while Chris Inscho added 18 versus the Saints. Shelby Hartwig dialed up a dozen points and 15 rebounds and Andy Hladik rung up a dozen points.
VSS was down by as many as 18 points and tied things with two minutes remaining.
The Cats simply ran out of gas against Sa-Hali and had less than three hours in between games against the rested Sabres. Down by 25 at the half, VSS fought back to within four points. Hladik drained 23 points and earned nine rebounds.
VSS visited the Kalamalka Lakers in exhibition play Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, South Kamloops won the Fulton Junior Boys Classic, icing South Okanagan 55-38 in Saturday night’s final.
Mount Boucherie clipped Valleyview 49-48 in the consolation final, hitting a trey with three seconds to play.
The Maroons went 0-3, losing to the Buzz and the VSS Panthers in Saturday action (no scores or details reported).
“We will be working on a more solid game-plan for the season, since they have the talent, and are capable of being a much better team,” said Fulton head coach Ken Gatzke.
Game MVPs for Fulton Saturday were Andrew Goldenthal and Nick Berg.
