The Heritage Woods Kodiaks aren't a secret anymore.
The Kodiaks knocked off the St. George's Saints 85-64 Saturday to continue their climb into the top 10 of B.C. high school basketball.
"The boys played well with the exception of about four minutes in the second quarter," said Kodiaks coach Chris Martin.
He credited defensive pressure and strong shooting for the win and singled out the play of Tommy Tweedlie-Sexton, Jacob McMahon and Henry Choi.
Martin says the top-10 is wide open in B.C. high school basketball this year.
"It's a pretty weird year. I think there's probably anyone in the top 20 that could do it," said Martin, who believes the ranking helps keep the players focused.
"Getting in that top 10, I don't really pay too much attention to it, but for [the players] it means something," he said, adding the players realize "You've got to practice like a top-10 team."
The Kodiaks will put their new top-10 ranking to the test when they tackle the Centennial Centaurs Friday before squaring off with the Port Moody Blues Saturday.
"We need to continue to focus on what we do best, working hard and making sure that we're taking away our opponent's strengths and not exposing our weaknesses," said Martin, who would like to see his team improve its defensive game.
"We're not an overly tall team so we have to play at a pretty high tempo. We like to push the ball and run."
The Terry Fox Ravens captured the Emerald Tournament last weekend in Vancouver.
The Ravens held of the host Vancouver College Fighting Irish 82-74 in the final.
"They shoot the ball extremely well in their own gym so that was our biggest concern, trying to limit their open looks," said Ravens coach Steve Hanson.
Neither team managed to build a double-digit lead in the back-and-forth game.
"It was just a tight, tight game. I thought both teams played well defensively but in the fourth quarter we had a tough time running any of our offence. We just had some guys who were able to take guys on when all else fails," said Hanson, who singled out the play of Liam Hancock and Mike West.
"Mike received a first-team all-star but Liam didn't and I don't know how he got missed."
With under two minutes to play, Jomari Reyes hit a three-pointer from six feet behind the arc just as the shot clock was about to expire.
"That got our bench jumping. Even though it was only a four-point lead, it felt like a dagger at that point."
Fox reached the final with a 63-54 win over the Sardis Falcons 63-54 after opening with a 77-66 win over Oak Bay.
"Sardis is definitely one of the top teams in the province and I think that game our energy was through the roof," said Hanson, who credited strong defence for the win.
"That was a real coming-out game for Mike West. He had 26 or 28 points that game. He played like a beast that game, offensively and defensively."
The Riverside Rapids senior girls swept a pair of league games from Maple Ridge.
Riverside held off Maple Ridge 72-62 Tuesday night.
Vanessa Gee led the Rapids with 24 points, with Amanda Matsui netting 12 and Zuzia Zdziechowski hitting for 10.
The Rapids battled back from a halftime deficit to get past Maple Ridge 67-54 last Thursday.
Shae Sanchez paced the Rapid attack with 18 points while Dani Atignani supplied 13 points and added nine rebounds. Gee and Matsui also chipped in 12 points each.
