William Tom poured in 46 points and Ucluelet pulled away in the second half for a 77-63 victory over Carihi B in championship game of the Campbell River Christian School Invitational boys basketball tournament Saturday.
The two-day tournament drew eight teams from a mix of private schools, small remote towns and junior teams from Carihi and Timberline in Campbell River.
"Usually it's more of a play day," said Kathy Andrews, CRCS athletic director. "We usually get four or five teams. But this year, everybody wanted to come on the same weekend."
Timberline B downed host Campbell River Christian 53-42 in the seventh-place game. Gold River claimed fifth with a 66-61 win over Ahousaht. Nanimo Christian pulled away late for a 60-39 win ov
er Dwight School of Shawnigan Lake in the third-place contest.
After falling behind by 10 points in the early stages of the championship final, Carihi parlayed a big second quarter into a 35-32 halftime lead over the Ucluelet. But the Warriors opened the third quarter with an 18-3 run and pushed their lead as high as 21 points, at 64-43, early in the fourth.
"We just picked up our defence," said Tom, a Grade 11 student. "We played as a team; everyone helped each other."
Brodie Doherty scored 22 first-half points for Carihi as the Tyees briefly jumped in front. But he sat out most of the third period with foul trouble and managed just four more points — all on free throws — the rest of the way.
Missing Doherty may have hurt Carihi in the decisive third period, but the primary factor was intensity, said teammate Hunter Korol.
"(Ucluelet) came out pretty strong, and we didn't," Korol said. "In the first half we were running harder. We went to the hoop and got some baskets."
The Warriors were particularly devastating on the boards, scoring 19 second-chance points following offensive rebounds.
Aubrey Ludlow added 17 points for Ucluelet. Josh Nelson had 15 of his 20 points for Carihi in the second half, picking up some of the slack from Doherty's absence, and Korol finished with 10 points.
Tom said Ucluelet has lost just one game this season, but hadn't seen most of the other teams in the tournament field before last weekend and didn't know what to expect.
"It was really great (to win)," he said. "Everybody came together."
CRCS Boys Basketball Tournament
Jan. 30-31
First round
Dwight 48, CR Christian 28
Carihi B 66, Ahousaht 64
Nanaimo Christian 63, Timberline B 30
Ucluelet 75, Gold River 66
Semifinals
Ahousaht 77, CR Christian 40
Gold River 73, Timberline B 48
Carihi 64, Dwight 49
Ucluelet 68, Nanaimo Christian 47
7th-8th place
Timberline B 53, CR Christian 42
5th-6th place
Gold River 66, Ahousaht 61
3rd-4th place
Nanaimo Christian 60, Dwight 39
Championship
Ucluelet 77, Carihi 63