Blue Jags Fall to St. Georges, Edge Brentwood to Earn Third at ISAs

                    Photo by Sarah Scully

By: Mike Edwards

The SMUS Blue Jags wrapped up competition at the BC Independent School Championships on Saturday at West Point Grey Academy in Vancouver. The Blue Jags were involved in two tight contests, dropping the first but coming out on top in the second thanks to a David Lee game winner with 3 seconds to go with the game tied. Despite finishing a very respectable third place, the Jags were nonetheless disappointed as their objective was to defend their ISA title.

First up Saturday morning for the Jags were the St. Georges Saints in the semi-finals. SMUS got off to a great start offensively, led by Jake Wilmott who went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc. St. Georges, however, was able to stay in the game thanks to a strong effort on the offensive glass. Max Pollen capped off the opening frame with a buzzer-beating three to give SMUS the 9 point advantage. Aside from Wilmott's 9 points, Pollen scored 8 and Lee added 5 assists to lead the team.

St. Georges came out strong to start the second, as their full court press lead to a number of transition buckets off of SMUS turnovers. At half time, the two teams were tied at 31. Jason Scully led SMUS with 14 points on 6-for-11 shooting.

The Blue Jags came out flying in the third, going on a 14-0 run prompting a St. Georges timeout, but the Saints rebounded going on a 15-0 run of their own to close out the frame. Heading into the fourth quarter the score was 51-47 for the Saints.

St. Georges didn't look back, carrying their momentum into the final frame and pulling away for a 78-61 win. For SMUS, Wilmott drained 7 three-pointers for 21 points and 4 rebounds, meanwhile Scully recorded a double double with 19 points and 10 boards.

After the tough loss to St. Georges, SMUS regrouped for the third place game against Vancouver Island rival Brentwood. Both teams got off to fast shooting starts, with Scully leading all players with 9 points in the opening period. At the end of the first, SMUS had a 22-16 lead.

After a 6-0 Brentwood run to start the second that tied the game, SMUS settled down and took a 39-32 edge into half time. Scully led the way with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, and Angus Catto added 6 points and 3 rebounds.

Both teams cooled off to start the third as SMUS and Brentwood played each other evenly for the majority of the quarter. Heading to the final frame the game remained tight with the score being 46-42 for the Jags.

After Brentwood erased the deficit early in the final frame, the teams went back-and-forth right up until the last few seconds when Lee hit the thrilling game-winning fade-away 8-footer with 3 seconds remaining on the clock. Brentwood was unable to respond, rimming out on a three-point attempt at the buzzer to give SMUS the 61-59 victory. Scully finished with another double double, notching 18 points and 13 rebounds in the tilt.

Despite Scully's two double doubles on the day, the Jags’ wing clearly felt that there were things to improve on. "I need to try to play more under control and limit my turnovers.” said Scully, "We didn't perform to our potential today and we have a lot of work to do to achieve the goals we set for ourselves."

 

The Blue Jags will next be in action Tuesday when they tip off their Victoria Tier 1 League regular season at home against Claremont at 7:30 PM.