Although league play began little more than a month ago for the Pitt Meadows Marauders Air Force, the senior boys’ basketball team is already in the thick of the playoffs as the AAA Fraser Valley North league seeding tournament starts this week.
The Marauders finished up the regular season last weekend with three games in three days, coming away with a 2-1 record in that span.
That means Pitt finishes up with an 8-2 record in league play this year, good for fourth place in the 11-team AAA Fraser Valley North division.
“We’ve had a good season and we’re healthy, so that makes a huge difference,” said head coach Rich Goulet. “You have to win a lot of games in a short period of time to make it [to provincials], so it’s survival of the fittest.
After knocking off the first-place Heritage Woods Kodiaks of Port Moody 69-51 at home Thursday night, the Marauders faced the second-place Terry Fox Ravens Friday in front of a packed house at Pitt Meadows secondary.
“It was the first time we’ve had a league rival in here on a Friday night like that [this season],” said Goulet. “It was packed. I guess they heard it was going to be a good game. They weren’t disappointed.”
Pitt Meadows opened with a 10-1 run to take an early lead, but the Ravens immediately responded to close within three points. The see-saw battle continued as the Marauders took an eight-point lead after the first quarter. The Ravens outscored the Marauders 17-10 in the second quarter with Pitt’s leading scorer Malcolm Williams on the bench with a sore knee.
With the score 27-26 at the half, Pitt again came on strong in the early stages of the third quarter with Williams back in the lineup, going on an 11-2 run to take a ten-point lead, their biggest of the game.
However, any momentum the Marauders had fizzled when play was stopped after a Terry Fox player injured himself, and had to be helped off the court.
The Ravens rallied with a 9-0 run after play resumed to draw within one point. Both teams traded chances throughout the final quarter, and with time winding down, the Marauders found themselves up 47-45.
However, a handful of costly turnovers would prove to be fatal for Pitt, as the Ravens went on to score five unanswered points to take the game 50-47.
Despite the loss, Goulet said he was pleased with his team’s effort.
“Both teams played extremely hard,” he said. “I think there were maybe two fast breaks all game, for both teams, because they were doing such a good job of getting back and preventing them.”
However, reducing turnovers will be paramount for team as they progress down the road to provincials.
“Their zone defense really killed us at the end,” said Goulet. “We had no problems with it last year, but then we don’t have six-foot-five centre.”
Williams and point guard Mistu Iwai tied for the team lead in scoring with 13 points each, while Matt Blackaby had 11 points.
The Marauders didn’t waste any time bouncing back as they knocked off the Pinetree Timberwolves of Coquitlam by a score of 97-54 on Saturday to close out league play.
The Marauders were set to face Dr. Charles Best secondary Tuesday night at Heritage Woods in their first game of the Fraser Valley North seeding tournament. While the Marauders have already qualified for the Fraser Valley Championships, a strong showing in the seeding tournament could guarantee them at least one home game in the tournament.
Ramblers still alive
The Maple Ridge Ramblers finished up league play in the AAA Abbotsford West division with a 53-40 loss to WJ Mouat on Saturday. The loss means the Ramblers finish last in the five-team Abbotsford West league with a record of 1-7.
However, the Ramblers playoffs hopes are still alive as they take on the 4-5 Rick Hansen Hurricanes in the opening round of the Abbotsford seeding tournament tonight in Abbotsford. A win tonight will mean the Ramblers will advance to the Fraser Valley Championships, which begin Feb. 25.
