Kitsilano vs St. George's

The build up to this game was huge as both teams are considered by many to be final four teams in the Provincial Championships in a couple of weeks. St. George's had beaten Kitsilano last month by a handful in an exhibition game in their only meeting before tonight. With both teams located in Vancouver, and the host of the tournament being Kitsilano, there was a lot of hype leading up to this game. The gym was about 90% capacity, 400-500 people on hand to watch this game. Kitsilano along with St. George's really dominated their opponents en route to the finals avg 20+ more points than their opponents. The St. George's Saints are led by Bol Kong and Alex Murphy, while the Kitsilano Blue Demons by Paul Woodham, Niko Cochrane, and Ty Nurse.

The first quarter started out with both teams executing well on offense trading a couple of quick baskets early. The Blue Demons broke out with a lead midway through the quarter with Davor Isic hitting on back-to-back 3 pointers to go up 13-8. Saints Coach Brian Lee called timeout to regroup. It worked, the Saints came out running and finishing strong, Kong had a couple of huge breakaway dunks that thrilled the crowd. The Saints finished the quarter strong and led 20-19 after 1.

The Saints continued their momentum into the 2nd quarter as Murphy started to heat up. Murphy was hot from the outside hitting on most of his shots. Kong was a 1 man wrecking crew on the glass picking up anything within 10 feet of his incredible wingspan. The Blue Demons countered with Paul Woodham down low and Bill Lee off the bench. On defense, the Saints switched to zone, then back to man, then to a 1-2-2 half-court trap with Kong on top. Didn't seem to phase the Blue Demons though as they clawed their way back at the end of the half to pull back to amost even, 39-38 for Saints at the half.

To start the 2nd half, both Kong and Murphy started attacking hard and stretched the lead to 8 early on. On consecutive possessions, the Blue Demons went to Isic down low and he missed everything. A quick timeout solved that problem and Isic was on the bench the rest of the way. The Blue Demons stayed in tough with great guard play by Cochrane and Nurse and solid low post play by Woodham. The Saints, Kong in particular, continued to own the glass and that allowed them to maintain a slim 60-55 lead at the end of the 3rd.

Things started to tighten up in the 4th quarter. As the Saints made baskets, the Blue Demons answered back. Nurse hit a big 3 as did Woodham to keep the Blue Demons in the game. The Saints maintained their lead heading into the final 3 minutes left in the game, 71-65 for the Saints. Niko then hit a huge 3 pointer cutting the lead to 71-68, 2:20 left in the game. On the Saints possession, the Blue Demons played hard halfcourt defense, forcing Kong into a difficult 15 foot fadaway which he missed.

On the Blue Demons next possession, they work the ball into Woodham down low who made a good move on Chris Mackay and scored to cut the lead to 71-70 Saints with :50 secs left in the game. On the ensuing inbounds with full court pressure by the Blue Demons, the Saints got the ball to Mackay across the court. But the Saints would turn it over and Cochrane ran the fast break with the ball and went for the game winning layup... BAM, Kong came back with a sick block on Cochran's layup sending the crowd into a frenzy, score still 71-70 Saints with :28 secs left. After a Kits timeout, the Blue Demons got the ball to Cochrane at the top of the key. Using a screen, Cochrane drove right side but was fouled on his way to the hoop. Double bonus meant he would shoot 2 FTs. Cochrane would miss the first FT, and the Saints would call timeout. After the timeout, Cochran hit the 2nd FT to tie the game at 71-71 with 11 secs left in the game.

The Saints inbounded the ball right away. Kong got the ball and immediately outlet the ball to Murphy at half-court. As all the players got into their half-court sets, Murphy dribbled to the top of key, pulled up for what should be the game-winner, a 15 foot jumper... nothing but net, 73-71 Saints with 3.2 secs left. The Blue Demons immediately inbounded the ball to Niko across half-court where Kits Head Coach Randy Coutts called their last timeout, 2 secs left in the game. After the timeout, the Blue Demons inbounded the ball from the side at half-court to #8 Yassine Ghomari on the other side of the court 4 feet beyond the 3 point line. Ghomari caught the ball and immediately launched the ball at the basket over the out-stretched hands of Kong. The ball sailed high through the air, hit the glass right at the box, and fell right through the bottom of the net, 74-73 game over.

The crowd went nuts, Kits bench rushed the floor jumping on top of each other including Coach Coutts.

Notes about the game,
- both teams played extremely well. Both hit their shots, and played hard defense. It's hard to find any flaws with how they played tonight.
- Some say #15 Chase Larson from Kits touched the ball after it hit the glass on the game winning basket. He was definitely there, but I'm pretty sure he didn't touch it.
- Kits bench was the difference tonight. The Blue Demons got contributions from Larson, Isic, Ghomari, and Lee. Saints were basically Kong and Murphy all night.
- Nurse didn't have a great game, 8-10 points, but it's tough when Saints matched up Kong to defend Nurse.
- the 1-2-2 half-court trap by the Saints could probably be even more effective as a 1-3-1 half-court trap like the one West Virginia uses. The Saints have the personel to run it.

The Blue Demons win the Lower Mainlands this year after losing in the finals last year to McMath and Kyle Watson's 46 points. The key to the Blue Demons winning tonight was that they would have to shoot the ball well especially with Kong dominating the boards. And they did that. The Blue Demons are probably the most versatile team in that they can play any style offensively. They can run and gun, shoot the 3, post you up, drive, you name it they can do it. From the last time I saw them play, their supporting players have improved significantly. The Blue Demons are almost a lock for the Final Four and proved that tonight.

The Saints played one of their best games of the season but just couldn't pull out the win tonight. Kong was simply amazing doing everything. He was simply everywhere on the court. He had some mad dunks, hit 3s, drove to the hoop, posted up, rebounded, found the open man, blocked shots, forced turnovers, and more. Murphy was equally good tonight. He was solid shooting the ball and had some wicked dishes on the fast break. On defense he played his usual shutdown defense on Niko Cochran. Again, as stated above, the Saints bench and support players did not have as much an impact as the Blue Demons and that was the difference in the game. The Saints are still the better team, they have the better talent, but it will be interesting going into the Provincial Tournament now as the Saints are shown to be somewhat vulnerable. The Saints should win the Title this year, but if a hot team comes around, anything can happen.