It’s obvious, watching the games, that high school basketball season is intensifying.
The Woodlands Eagles and the Cedar Spartans played an emotional, physical contest Tuesday night at the Cedar Secondary School gym, with the Eagles prevailing 84-76 in overtime.
The home team clawed back from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter and the Spartans’ Kurt Olson hit a three-pointer in the dying seconds to force OT.
In the extra frame, though, the Eagles created easier looks for themselves and built a solid margin of victory.
“We knew they had the momentum so we knew we had to match that intensity going into overtime and I think we did the job there,” said Griffin Douglas, Woodlands player.
Zack Williams led Woodlands with 25 points, Jakob Brown scored 21 and Douglas had 15. For Cedar, Olson had 25 points and Josh Seward scored 24.
In the first half of the doubleheader at the Cedar gym, the senior AA Spartans girls crushed the Highland Raiders 82-20. Marika Grubac scored 30 points and Shelby Dorman-Banks had 15.
In a senior AA girls’ all-Nanaimo matchup, the Wellington Wildcats beat Woodlands 91-33 at the Wellington gym. The Wildcats girls, getting ready for a tournament on the Lower Mainland this coming weekend, used the league game to try to get better.
"We've been working on our offences so we had to make sure that we were executing that in the game and we did," said Nicole McRae, coach of the 'Cats.
Victoria Brown scored 26 points for Welly and Kaitlyn Franklin had 24. Kylee Sam was top scorer for the Eagles with 11 points.
Also in senior AA girls' action, the Ballenas Whalers defeated the Nanaimo District Secondary School Islanders 65-47 at the NDSS gym.
In Nanaimo's north end on Tuesday, the Dover Bay Dolphins senior AAAA boys defeated the G.P. Vanier Towhees 71-68.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com