Coquitlam’s Grant Galbraith is front and centre in promotional material for the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball championship that begin today at the Langley Events Centre. But whether he can get his Langara Falcons to the forefront of the tournament that features eight of the best college teams in Canada will be determined by Saturday’s final.
The Falcons are a distinct underdog.
Langara finished fourth in the PACWEST standings with nine wins and nine losses, then were bounced in the conference quarter-finals by fifth-ranked Camosun. But as the host school for the national championship, they received an automatic berth to test their mettle against the winners from each of five conferences across the country plus wildcard teams from the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association and the Réseau du sport étudiant de Québec.
Galbraith, a fifth-year center who graduated from Gleneagle secondary, had a solid season for Langara. He scored 255 points in 18 games and pulled down 139 rebounds, fourth best in the PACWEST. His shooting percentage of 54.4% from the floor was second-best on the team.
Port Moody secondary grad Sina Hashemi, a first year guard, is also on the team.
The Falcons play the Holland Hurricanes, the champions of the Atlantic College Athletic Association and the top-ranked team in the CCAA heading into the tournament, in the their first game, tonight at 7:30 p.m.
