Shephard shines as BC drop Sask to top Pool A
Team BC made a perfect 2-0 exit out of pool play after dropping Saskatchewan, 69-59, in Game 2 of the 2015 Western Canada Summer Games in Wood Buffalo, Alta. A 22-point performance from Kelowna native Grant Shephard helped the BC men to the win, while Saskatchewan was led in scoring by Zach Shalley with 19 points.
“Sask played really well tonight,” credited Joe Enevoldson (Delta), head coach of Team BC. “They really grinded us out. We played them earlier in the summer and they got exponentially better between then and now. We are right where want to be though.”
Despite Saskatchewan grabbing the first bucket of the game Team BC went on a 7-0 run with five points coming from Fardaws Aimaq (Richmond). Team BC point guard Jason Tantengco (Vancouver) was pivotal in transition, stealing in one end and feeding a no-look pass in the other end to feed Aimaq under the hoop. Saskatchewan had a few buckets in between, including a quick three from Todd Moyer, but BC stormed their way to a 20-11 lead at the end of the first.
“(Tantengco) is our all-world point guard right now for us,” said Enevoldson of the 2015 Junior BC MVP.
“He’s distributing. His plus-minus is huge and he is playing well defensively. He definitely gets us going.”
In the second Saskatchewan played catch up putting in their first three scoring attempts from beyond the arc to cut BC’s lead to five points, up 25-20. Team BC went 9-for-14 from the line in the second frame as Tantengco’s feeding allowed Shephard (Kelowna) multiple chances in the paint. Cameron Morris led BC entering half time, totalling nine points, while Shephard finished with seven.
Saskatchewan was led by Shalley with nine points as the prairie province dropped four treys throughout the opening half. Following two quarters BC held a 35-29 lead.
BC ran away with their lead in the third, up 50-33, after a series of buckets from Shephard, while Shalley was the response from Saskatchewan. Shalley, a six-foot-three guard, put up seven points to cut BC’s lead to 13. Team BC led 53-40 entering the final frame.
In the final quarter Saskatchewan put on an impressive comeback dropping four shots from distance, while putting up an impressive defensive performance. BC continued to maintain the pace with Tantengco feeding Shephard and quality rebounding from Sam Bailey and Morris. Shephard had the crowd on their feet with a huge dunk with under 60 seconds to go to get BC up 67-56. One more late lay up on a nice passing play to Shephard gave BC a 70-59 victory over Saskatchewan and the top seed exiting Pool A into the cross-over round.
“We were fortunate to have a guy like Shephard,” adds Enevoldson. “ He is a national team level guy and he can put the ball in the basket but really, credit to Saskatchewan who played really hard tonight. Up next BC anticipated they will face Alberta in the semi-final on Aug. 10 at 11:00 a.m.
“(Alberta) are small but really feisty,” anticipates Enevoldson. “They get after it and put a lot of pressure. They look a little tired but so do we after tonight so it will be a grind. It’s a play-off basketball experience so it’s one-and-done.”