29th Annual Legal Beagle Tournament Preview
Top “AAAA” teams battle in PoCo this weekend as Legal Beagle kicks off on Thursday.
The Legal Beagle Tournament is no joke.
Debatably one of the most competitive tournaments to occur in BC every year, this year’s tournament is no exception. The 29th Annual Legal Beagle hosted by Terry Fox kicks off this Thursday January 11th with a stacked line-up of teams, all of which are ranked/mentioned in the provincial rankings.
Game 1 @ 3:15pm: #4 “AAA” South Kamloops Titans vs #6 “AAAA” WJ Mouat Hawks
The two teams met in the WJ Mouat Hawkball Tournament back in December, with the Hawks taking the “W” in that one, by a score of 74-58. The Titans of South Kamloops are the lone “AAA” team in this year’s tournament and thus have likely been given the label of underdog for any game they play this weekend. That being said, WJ Mouat lost a game in the Tamanawis Holiday Invitational to the “AAA” Sir Charles Tupper, proving that the tier you play in means very little. The Titans will look to Reid Jansen and Nick Sarai to lead the “underdogs”. For the Hawks, they will lean heavily on Harvir Johal and Dhivaan Bogal to avoid another upset.
Game 2 @ 5:00pm: #10 “AAAA” Vancouver College Fighting Irish vs #8 “AAAA” Semiahmoo Totems
The Semiahmoo Totems are fresh off of a holiday tournament in Dallas, Texas as well as two other exhibition games played down south in December. Can they bring what they’ve learned from these games back to local competition? The Totems will rely on Adam Paige and Vlad Mihaila in their tough opening round match-up. For Vancouver College, they went 6-2 in the month of December and are fresh off of a convincing 117-54 win against #2 “AAA” McMath. The Fighting Irish are on five game winning streak and will look to continue their momentum into the tournament led by Jack Cruz-Dumont, who was selected the Terry Fox Inspirational Player Award last year.
Game 3: @6:45pm: HM Kelowna Owls vs HM Terry Fox Ravens
Last year’s tournament runner-up, the Kelowna Owls, are back and looking to be on the other side of the Championship result. The Owls had a busy travel schedule over the holidays with stops in Tacoma, Washington and Edmonton finishing with a 3-4 record between the two tough tournaments. Cole McAvoy and Matt Williamson will be leading the charge for the Owls as they have a big task at hand - the home team Terry Fox Ravens. For the Ravens, playing at home in the Legal Beagle always draws large crowds, particularly the opening round game. A young team led by Grade 11’s Jacob Mand and David Chien will be hungry for an opening round win in their own tournament. Surely, both teams are looking to use this tournament to make sure there is a number associated with their provincial ranking next week.
Game 4 @ 8:30pm: #5 “AAAA” Walnut Grove Gators vs #9 “AAAA”Kitsilano Blue Demons
The final game of the opening round puts the Legal Beagle defending Champions, the Walnut Grove Gators against the Kitsilano Blue Demons. The Gators are coming off back-to-back wins against St.Georges and Terry Fox and are looking to defend their title. The Walnut Grove attack will begin with James Wood, last year’s B.C. AAAA Tournament MVP, and Grade 11 guard Jarrett Jacobs. The Blue Demons from Kitsilano are fresh off of a 100-87 upset win over the #1 “AAAA” Tamanawis Wildcats on Tuesday night, which should serve as a good reminder of what this team is capable of. Led by Tyrone Asenoguan, Tiago Costa and Payton Lum the Blue Demons will want to continue their ascent up the provincial rankings.
Rounding out the 10 Team Tournament draw are the #2 “AAAA” Oak Bay Bays and #3 “AAAA” Holy Cross Crusaders who both get a first round bye as the highest provincially ranked teams entering the tournament. See the tournament draw below for all the Legal Beagle Tournament action this weekend at Terry Fox!
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