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FHC Grade 8 boys win first banner for new gym

The new F.H. Collins Secondary School has its first championship banner for the rafters.
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The new F.H. Collins Secondary School has its first championship banner for the rafters.

The F.H. Collins Warriors won the Grade 8 boys division of the Yukon Basketball Championships on home turf Saturday.

The Warriors claimed gold with a 51-43 win over the Vanier Crusaders in the final for the team’s first title won at its school that opened in January.

“Throughout the year we’ve had great games between the two teams,” said Warriors head coach James Shaw. “One game one team wins, one game the other wins. We had a triple overtime game back in early February. So we had a pretty good idea this was going to be the match-up in the final.”

The Warriors’ only loss of the championship was to the Crusaders during the round robin, but they were fairly in control of things in the final.

After finishing the first quarter up by just a point, the Warriors expanded the lead to 28-19 by half. Warriors’ Ralph Hermosa made back-to-back blocks with one at the buzzer.

Going into the fourth at 40-28, Crusaders’ Josh Rumbaoa twice kept the Warriors’ lead to single digits with three pointers but the home team stayed out of reach. Rumbaoa, who was named an All-Star, led his team with 23 points.

Hermosa led the game with 34 and was named league MVP.

“It’s great. I wasn’t expecting it, actually,” said Hermosa. “They have a lot of stars on Vanier so it was really difficult for us, but somehow we got it.”

“Ralph had the best day today. It was the battle between Ralph and Josh (Rumbaoa), who are probably the best two players in the league,” said Shaw. “Ralph played just a little bit better today and did a great job at facilitating his teammates, getting them open shots so they could score and have success.”

Warriors’ Rafay Magsi was second on the team for scoring in the final with 13 and was named an All-Star.

The Porter Creek Rams lost in the semifinal and came away with the bronze.

Contact Tom Patrick at

tomp@yukon-news.com

All-Stars

Broden Cull (Rams)

Josh Rumbaoa (Crusaders)

Chad Williams (Crusaders)

Liam Russell (Warriors)

Rafay Magsi (Warriors)

MVP Ralph Hermosa (Warriors)