Morning Star Staff
The Fulton Maroons will be the North Zone No. 1 seed in the Okanagan Valley Senior AA Boys Basketball League championships next week in Oliver.
The Maroons got in all their 13-man roster as they stuffed the Pleasant Valley Saints of Armstrong 73-36 in the Zone final Thursday night at Fulton.
Noah Alleyne cashed in 16 points for the Maroons, who went to their bench after building a 43-10 lead at the recess.
Nathan Banga pocketed 13 points while going 6-for-7 from the charity stripe, while Hunter Krieger supplied 11 and Greg Geistlinger added seven.
Quaid Lang and Seth Gordey each sank eight points for PVSS, who also qualify for the Valleys.
“The boys are playing well heading into the Valleys,” said Fulton head coach Dale Olson. “We are playing very tough defence and its helping us grind out some games when we are not playing well offensively. We will really need our seniors to step up and lead us through next weekend.
“Noah Alleyne, Kobe Romanovitch and Bryn Bedard will be key as well as our junior starters, big man Hunter Krieger, forwards Ike Olson and Caden Doyle and shooting guard Nate Banga.”
The Seaton Sonics secured the third and final Valley berth by brushing back the Kalamalka Lakers 68-64 Thursday night.
Trent Graham flushed 23 points for the Sonics, while Quaine Parker caned 16 and Kaiden Parton added eight. Ryan Squair bagged 23 points for the Lakers, going 5-for-14 from the free throw line. Wyatt Carter chipped in with 17 points.
Kal led by three with a minute left before Seaton netted three free throws in the dying seconds.
Meanwhile, the host VSS Panthers lost a 39-37 thriller to Westsyde Whundas Friday in the Valley junior girls playdowns.
Westsyde came out firing in the first quarter, missing just two shots and taking a 22-3 lead after one quarter. VSS struggled from the free throw line, going 10-for-34 on the night.
The Cats started chipping at the lead with a fullcourt zone press and were down 29-14 at the half and outscored Westsyde 11-4 in the fourth.
Kelsey Falk canned nine points for VSS, while Jesse Harmon had six.
“It was a rough start but I was very proud of how our girls did not give up and fought ‘till the bitter end,” said VSS coach Howie Falk. “We had our chances having as many free throws as we did but they did not fall tonight.”