There were plenty of shooting Stars at last weekend's 16th annual Carney Classic senior high school basketball tournament and few burned brighter than the two host teams.
Archbishop Carney bombed Richmond's J.N. Burnett Breakers 72-45 in Saturday's final of the eight-team boys' draw, while the AA Stars were knocked off 58-41 by the AAA New Westminster Hyacks in the ensuing championship game for the girls, who also featured eight squads.
A B.C. AA honourable mention in the most-recent provincial rankings, the Carney boys breezed by the competition, blasting PoCo's B.C. Christian Academy Panthers 74-35 on Thursday before handling the St. Patrick's Celtics 70-61 Friday to dart to the final, where they completely dominated.
"The final game versus Burnett really stood out as a reflection of our team," said Carney boys head coach Steve McGinley. "We ran the ball well, pressed the opposition, minimized our turnovers [and] made the right decisions."
Carney captain Christian Legazpi was named tournament MVP, while the Stars' Patrick Simon was chosen to the all-star squad.
The Carney girls, meanwhile, thumped the St. Patrick's Celtics of Vancouver 64-36 to tip-off the tourney Wednesday, then advanced to the final after clobbering Abby College 73-29 Thursday.
In Saturday's title tilt, the Stars were simply over-matched by the Hyacks, who are rated No. 8 in the provincial AAA girls poll.
"Our goals for the tournament were to play our best basketball each game and let the scores take care of themselves," said Carney girls coach Joel Ditson. "I can't say we played as well as we are capable of, but we definitely played well in the tournament and will be looking to build on the successes."
Carney's Kayla McFadden and Cassie Hombrebueno were named to the all-star team.
