The Centennial Centaurs might have been a footnote heading into the BC High School senior boys AAAA basketball championships that begin on Wednesday (March 9) at the Langley Events Centre.
Then, they toppled the previously unbeaten Burnaby South Rebels in the Fraser North zone playoffs.
The stunning 69-62 upset of the top-ranked reigning champions served notice the Centaurs, which had flirted in and out of the top ten rankings all season, are for real.
The team’s subsequent 73-65 win over the Terry Fox Ravens in the zone championship on Feb. 27 solidified its status as the second seed for provincials.
“Our boys gained a significant amount of confidence with that win,” said Centennial coach Rob Sollero of his team’s triumph over Burnaby South, which is now ranked fifth heading to Langley.
At the root of that confidence is the authority with which the Centaurs’ big man, KC Ibekwe, played. The six-foot-10 centre scored 43 points in the zone final.
Against South, he amassed 22 points and contributed 21 rebounds as well as 13 blocks.
The performances were the exclamation to Ibekwe’s season-long average of 32 points per game and 15 rebounds.
He’s been capably supported by guard Nick Yang, who’s average 18 points per game and was named to the first all-star team at the Fraser North tournament, as well as juniors Trey McLenan and Matthew Lee.
Sollero also has good things to say about Arjun Panju, whom he calls Centennial’s “vocal team leader."
“We really rely on him for defensive play and leadership.”
Sollero said it’s been a different season, with tournament play cancelled since mid-December by COVID-19 restrictions that also barred spectators from games.
As a result, the Centaurs’ ascent has been largely out-of-sight-out-of-mind.
Centennial won six of its seven league games and cobbled together several exhibition games against top opponents, including a narrow 92-89 overtime loss in early February to St. George’s, the number one seed at provincials.
Still, Sollero said, there will be many unknowns in the days ahead.
“There are a few teams that we have not played,” he said of the upcoming 16-team tournament. “We will have to do a good job of scouting in preparation for those teams.”
After finishing runners-up to Centennial at the Fraser North district finals, the Terry Fox Ravens are ranked ninth in the provincial tournament.
The team won six of its seven league games, including a 76-72 triumph over the Centaurs on Feb. 11.
Prior to the season, Ravens’ coach Rich Chambers said he didn’t expect his side to find its true form until January but it really didn’t happen until February, when Fox went undefeated prior to its loss in the Fraser North championship game.
Terry Fox plays its first game in Langley against number eight-seeded Walnut Grove at 10:15 a.m. on Wednesday.
Centennial faces 15th-ranked North Peace at 8:45 p.m.
