The Vanier Towhees senior boys basketball team won the Cambie Tournament for the third straight year on the weekend in Richmond.
In their Thursday opener against McRoberts, Vanier’s athleticism and size were too much for the Richmond team. The half-time score was 54-35, and the final score was 109-58. Towhees forward Peter Greaves popped in 33 points, and grabbed 10 rebounds while Jakob Tortorelli added 27 points, and loads of energy on defence. Jeff Powell came off the bench to score 13 points and grab nine rebounds, ending plus-13 in the stats. Sid Woodrow scored 10 points.
In their second game, the 3A Towhees faced Prince of Wales, also a 3A school. The Vancouver side had athletic players of their own, led by a 6’6″ centre who will be a Div. 1 pitcher next year in Sacramento, CA. He scored 30 points while their very fast guard added 21. However, the Towhees had more weapons, and played a great all-round team game. Greaves had 20 points and 11 rebounds; Tortorelli had 17 points, four assists and 4 steals; Macyn Leopkey-Johnson added 17 points; and Sid Woodrow had 10 boards and nine points. Final score was 86-63 Vanier.
Vanier then played the host Cambie of Richmond in the final. Cambie is a quick and athletic team with strong shooters, Vanier coach Larry Street said. The game was close all the way. Cambie took a six-point lead towards the end of the second quarter, but Vanier came within two by the end of the first half.
The Towhees stormed out early in the third with Tortorelli and Cam Bell pressuring the Cambie guards. Greaves was controlling play around the key. Still, the host team continued to hit big threes that kept the game close. It came down to hitting free throws towards the end of the game. Greaves, Jeremy Knopp and Curtis Trask hit some big ones for Vanier. Cambie shot 42 per cent at the foul line, which didn’t help their cause.
Greaves, who was named tournament MVP, laid out 24 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and seven blocked shots. Tortorelli
— an all-star and player-of-the-game in the final — was a warrior with 27 points and four important late steals. Bell and Leopkey-Johnson each scored nine points, and Brayden Waugh hustled to eight rebounds and 6 important points late in the game.
