In a day filled with upset victories in the quarter-finals, the Walnut Grove Gators were able take care of business.
The Gators dispatched the W.J. Mouat Hawks 74-57 in the last quarter-final of the day on Thursday at the Langley Events Centre, site of the 2012 B.C. AAA senior boys basketball championships.
Walnut Grove, the tournament’s fourth seed, trailed for most of the first quarter before taking control and beating their league rivals for the fifth time in six tries this season.
The win advances the Gators to the semifinals on Friday (March 16) at 6 p.m. when they take on the Vancouver College Fighting Irish.
The game is a rematch of last season’s provincial quarter-finals, which was won by Vancouver College on their way to a second-place finish.
The Irish, ranked eighth coming in, knocked off the tournament’s top seed, the Kelowna Owls, 78-76 in the first quarter-final on Thursday.
The other semifinal has the No. 10 Terry Fox Ravens taking on the No. 14 White Rock Christian Academy Warriors.
The Ravens beat No. 2 Pitt Meadows Marauders Air Force 66-30 while the Warriors knocked off the No. 6 Tamawanis Wildcats 75-65.
In the Gators victory, the team showed off its superior depth.
One game after being led by the trio of Jadon Cohee (33 points), Brad Hoffman (15 points) and De’Sean Monsanto (15 points) in their 78-73 win over the Mount Douglas Rams, Walnut Grove had two different players step up and carry the offensive load.
Ethan McKean came through with a game-high 20 points — including five three-pointers — six rebounds and four assists.
Paul Getz delivered 16 points and five rebounds.
Cohee had 14 points, eight rebounds, five steals and four assists.
A big difference in the game was three-point shooting.
While Mouat failed to hit a shot from beyond the arc in nine tries, Walnut Grove went 11-for-28 from three-point land.
