The Vernon Panthers have eked out a trip to the provincial high school basketball championships.
Grade 10 call-up player, and Spanish exchange student, Iker (pronounced EE-ker) Lopetegui hit two free throws with five seconds remaining to give the Cats a 62-61 win over the host South Kamloops Titans in the Okanagan Valley AAA Boys Basketball Final Saturday, Feb. 22.
Lopetegui, a tournament all-star, drove down the middle of the key and was fouled on his shot attempt. He calmly sank both shots from the charity stripe to give Vernon the lead. The Panthers then followed head coach Mark Zaino's words about not committing a foul as the Titans went for the last-second shot.
"They got a shot away but it wasn't anywhere close to the basket," said Zaino, whose Grade 11 son Domenic was named tournament MVP. Domenic popped in 11 points in the final while Lopetegui led VSS with 13.
Jonah Lee, a Grade 12 starter for the Panthers, was also named to the all-star team.
The Panthers twice trailed the Titans by 14 points in the final. Vernon beat South Kam by two points in their only regular-season meeting at the Panther Pit.
"Two games and we beat them by three total points," said coach Zaino. "It's a pretty incredible feeling to win the Okanagan title. This team had had to deal with a lot of adversity, especially in the two games on the weekend. The players showed incredible resilience and determination."
Vernon gets the only Okanagan AAA berth to the B.C. finals March 5-8 in Langley.
The Panthers advanced to the championship game, coming from behind, as they did in the final, to knock off the Sa-Hali Sabres of Kamloops 83-70. Vernon, who trailed the Sabres by eight points, were led by Zaino's 29 points.
South Kamloops made it to the Okanagan final with a 72-46 win Friday, Feb. 21, over Vernon's Fulton Maroons.
OKANAGAN VALLEY A CHAMPIONSHIPS
麻豆精选's Immaculata Mustangs will lead a four-team Okanagan charge to the B.C. A finals March 5-8 in Langley.
The Mustangs won the Okanagan title, defeating the host Aberdeen Hall Griffins 79-61 in the all-麻豆精选 championship.
The Osoyoos Rattlers earned the third spot by way of their victory over the St. Ann's Academy Crusaders of Kamloops. The Crusaders get the fourth berth to Langley.
Immaculata defeated the Eagle River Talons of Sicamous 76-40 in their quarterfinal matchup, then took the venom out of the Rattlers in the semifinal, 64-59.
Aberdeen Hall opened with a 100-43 win over Desert Sands of Ashcroft before dispatching St. Ann's 66-29 in the semifinal.
The Talons went 0-3, falling 54-41 to Barriere before losing to the Similkameen Sparks of Keremeos in the 7th-8th place game.
OKANAGAN VALLEY AA CHAMPIONSHIPS
What a final game in Kamloops.
As expected, the top two teams in the Okanagan throughout the season made it to the championship game, and when it was finished, the No. 1-seeded Summerland Rockets had edged the No. 2 hosts, the Westsyde Whundas,117-115 in overtime.
Both teams go to the provincials March 5-8 in Langley.
Summerland defeated the Merritt Panthers 90-44 in their opener, then knocked off the Southern Okanagan Hornets 84-60 in the semifinal. Southern Okanagan opened the tourney by dumping the Pleasant Valley Hawks of Armstrong 121-64.
The Whundas scored 100+ points in all three games. They opened by pounding the A.L. Fortune Falcons of Enderby 105-34, then whipped Coldstream's Kalamalka Lakers 104-47.
Kal, seeded third, began the tournament with an 80-60 victory over the Princess Margaret Mustangs of Penticton.
After the loss to Westsyde, the Lakers rebounded to defeated Merritt 89-80 before losing the bronze-medal game, 83-59, to Southern Okanagan. The Hornets could have challenged Westsyde for the second provincial berth, as they had not met in the Valley tournament, but opted to forego the challenge.
The Falcons and Hawks both went 0-2 and were eliminated.
OKANAGAN VALLEY 4A CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Mt. Boucherie Bears of West 麻豆精选 stunned the host 麻豆精选 Owls 75-72 to grab the Okanagan Valley championship and the Okanagan's lone berth to the B.C. finals March 5-8 in Langley.
The Bear鈥� seeded fourth in the six-team event 鈥� started their upset-filled weekend by defeating the No. 2-seeded Rutland Thunder in one semifinal. The Owls eliminated the Okanagan Mission Huskies in the other final four contest.
