The Sir Winston Churchill Secondary Bulldogs are headed to the boys basketball regional championships after a dominant quarter-final performance against Richmond.
The Richmond Secondary Colts (19-11) fell 96-69 to the Bulldogs (28-3) Wednesday night in the Lower Mainland boys basketball tournament quarter finals at the Richmond Oval. While the score was lopsided, it was a hard-fought game that saw several players ejected for roughness.  
That call came in final quarter, after several players dove on a loose ball. After a scuffle, officials ejected three players for roughness — Richmond’s David Yap and Kurt Galvin and Churchill’s Reegan O’Gorman. The move was controversial with both coaches. 
“I’m still a bit confused about it,” said Churchill head coach Rick Lopez. “It was a scrappy dive ball, some kids came in and pushed each other, and they ejected them.” 
The ejections were the end of a frustrating game for Richmond. 
Churchill, the second-ranked team in the province, had all but secured a berth in Friday’s finals match after the first quarter. The Colts ended the first down 27-11 and couldn’t recover from the deficit. 
“This was their first time playing in an arena like this, against a number two-ranked team,” said Richmond coach Les Brown. “They’ve been nervous all week. We tried to calm down and slow down our play, but it didn’t work.”
Churchill had the advantage in size, said Brown. Richmond has four players who stand over six feet, while Churchill has nine. 
“With the size difference, we have to be the tougher team — going for dive balls, out-rebounding them. We didn’t do that,” he said.  
Richmond settled in for the second, and kept from falling further behind. The Colts matched the Bulldogs’ 16 points in the third, thanks to eight from 5’5” guard Keith Adano. Adano, Yap, Tristan Ordonez and Amar Burmy all scored 12 for Richmond.     
Churchill guard Mindy Minhas continued to dominate, putting up 23 total points despite occasionally spotty shooting. Minhas, who signed to the UBC Thunderbirds before starting his last year of high school, was named a tournament all-star and is considered one of the top players in the province. Lambert Pajayon and Izaiah Ugoalah rounded out the Bulldog’s top scorers with 17 and 15 points, respectively.     
Churchill advanced to the semi-finals with a win over Windermere, while Richmond beat Kitsilano. Kitsilano took the top spot in last year’s tournament, while Churchill finished fifth. 
Churchill plays Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»College for the Lower Mainland title Feb. 28 at the Richmond Olympic Oval at 7:30. The final is game 20 of the Lower Mainland tournament. Both of those teams advance to the provincial championships in March.
