The Princess Margaret Mustangs and Southern Okanagan Secondary Hornets basketball teams have advanced to the boys junior Okanagan Valley championship.
The Hornets qualified by defeating the Pen High Lakers 41-30, while the Mustangs downed the Lakers 44-39 in a challenge game.
Mustangs coach Dan Van Os said he felt his team played well.
“We are very competitive with Pen High and Oliver and had two really close games with both teams,” said Van Os, whose group lost to the Hornets 52-50 on Feb.14, then defeated Keremeos 44-31.
Lakers coach Scott Nicholson said his team had a strong season finishing tied for second in league play. They defeated Keremeos 49-46 in the semifinal and were led by Spencer Abbey’s 17 points, while Dylan Moorman drained 15. Nicholson described the game against the Mustangs, as a tough, tight match losing 43-39.
“The post players dominated the Pen High offence, but down the stretch it was not enough to overcome the Maggie perimeter shooting,” said Nicholson.
The Lakers finished third falling short of a Valley Championship berth. Most valuable players for the Lakers were Moorman, Abbey, Cam Gunning and Kyler Phillip.
Junior boys basketball commissioner Blair Haddrell said the Kelowna Secondary Owls are the favourites heading into the championship this weekend in Salmon Arm. They are the top-ranked team in the province.
Grade 8 girls playoffs
Penticton is hosting girls playoff action at KVR Middle School beginning Friday.
The KVR Express are the top seeded team, while Similkameen Elementary Secondary School is second followed by Southern Okanagan Secondary School third, Princeton is fourth, McNicoll is fifth, Skaha Lake Middle School is sixth and Shuswap Middle School is seventh. The opening game pits Princeton against McNicoll at 2:30 p.m. KVR plays the winner of that match at 8:30 p.m. SOSS plays SLMS at 5:30 p.m. Saturday’s action begins at 9 a.m.
