"What just happened?"
A euphoric and bewildered head coach Steve Hanson was left in the same stunned state as the 4,061 fans after his Terry Fox Ravens overcame a seven-point deficit with two minutes remaining to pull out an astounding 75-74 victory Saturday over the gritty Walnut Grove Gators at their home-town Langley Events Centre.
The victory gave Fox its third B.C. AAA senior boys high school basketball championship after also having won it back-to-back in 1993 and '94.
Ravens guard Jesse Crookes played hero, nailing a 15-foot jumper with 3.4 seconds remaining when the ball was kicked out to him on the elbow after a wild scramble under the Gators' hoop.
Delirious Fox fans flooded the floor in celebration, only to be sent off temporarily after Kaleb Gebrewold was fouled with a mere half a tick left on the score clock. The Ravens simply inbounded the ball to Crookes, fittingly, and the real PoCo party was on.
Six-foot-seven Ryan Sclater rallied the Ravens with 17 points on eight-for-10 shooting from the field and was fittingly named tournament MVP. Crookes finished with 16, including three treys, with Daniel Collins and Trevor Casey added 13 and 10 respectively for the winners.
The result overshadowed a brilliant performance by Gators' Grade 10 do-all star Jadon Cohee, who finished with a game-high 25 points.
The see-saw game featured 18 lead changes - 14 in the second half - with Walnut Grove holding the biggest margin at 72-63 before the Ravens surged to out-score them 12-2 down the stretch.
Four of Fox's five starters are set to graduate, while the Gators' future looks extremely bright as they return Cohee along with eight other players on their 12-man roster.
