The Dover Bay Dolphins, Island champions, sure have a flair for the dramatic.
Dover's senior AAA boys' basketball team won the Island title on Saturday night in Victoria, 63-61 over the Claremont Spartans, in one of the most incredible finishes in tournament history. The Dolphins' Jason McKee nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer at the end of overtime to give his team the victory and a berth into provincials.
"He hit a hell of a shot, but we were lucky," said Mark Simpson, Dover's coach. "And that's OK, we'll take it."
Dover Bay knew Claremont would be a difficult opponent after the South Island champs bowled their way through the first two days of competition at Mt. Douglas Secondary School.
"It was a really hotly contested game. Both teams played well and played hard…" Simpson said. "There were lots of ups and downs in the game and I thought we were pretty resilient. We hung in there and good teams do that."
No team led by more than seven points all game. Both teams had chances to win in the last minute of regulation but overtime was needed to snap a 54-54 tie. The OT period was also close all the way, then the Spartans hit a floater to go up 61-60 with 1.3 seconds left.
Dover had a play drawn up for the situation, but Claremont's tough defence meant the Dolphins had to improvise. Eric Kuzminski got the ball to McKee, who launched his trey off balance, from perhaps 30 feet out, hitting nothing but net.
"We didn't do exactly what the coach drew up. We were lucky to get a good shot off, I guess," said McKee. "There wasn't much time left on the clock so I just got it up and gave it a chance to go in and when it went down it was just an unreal feeling, I was so happy."
McKee said that kind of victory will make the Dolphins a stronger, more confident team – they've seen what can happen from playing hard and staying positive no matter the situation.
"We competed hard for the whole game, and even to the last second we never gave up," he said. "I'm glad we could pull through."
McKee finished with 21 points, Seme Rabeh had 15 and Jon Bethell had 14.
Dover reached the final thanks to a 65-47 win over the Cowichan Thunderbirds on Friday. McKee scored 17 points in that one.
The Wellington Wildcats finished fourth at Islands, defeating G.P. Vanier on Friday, 65-62, then getting past Cowichan 86-75 on Saturday morning before falling to Oak Bay 66-37 in the third-place game. Travis Mickelson led the Wildcats with 18 points in the win over Vanier, Nate Brown scored a tournament-best 37 points in the win over Cowichan and then Brown again led the 'Cats with 15 against Oak Bay.
McKee was selected the tournament's most valuable player and Bethell and Brown were chosen all-stars. Kuzminski was named top defensive player.
COURT SHORTS … The senior AAA boys' provincial championships will be held in Langley this year, starting March 15.
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