By Greg McNeil
Cape Breton Post
NEW WATERFORD — A second-half scoring surge carried Three Oaks to victory in the championship game of the 31st annual Coal Bowl Classic basketball tournament on Saturday.
Trailing Corner Brook 36-28 at the break, the Summerside school outscored their opposition 49-31 over the final two quarters to claim the title by a 77-67 count.
The tournament’s consolation game went to Nechako Valley Secondary after they downed the host Breton Education Centre Bears, 70-65.
A spirited comeback attempt by the host team fell a little short in the tournament’s third-place game.
The host Bears were behind by 17 points after the third quarter, but managed to reduce that deficit to two points with three minutes to play in the game.
It was a one-sided third quarter in favour of Nechako Valley that would decide the contest.
After the Vikings came out of the halftime break with a one-point lead, they opened the third quarter with a 15-0 scoring run to take command of the game.
In that pivotal third quarter, the Bears’ first basket took five minutes to fall and accounted for three of only seven points they’d score that quarter.
A 14-2 run to open the fourth quarter cut deeply into Nechako Valley’s 60-43 lead, but the closest the host team could get was within two points after Cody Leadbeater stole the ball and scored on a layup with 3:10 to play.
Top scorer for Nechako Valley was Riley Wallace, who scored a game-high 36 points. Their only other double-digit scorer was Scot Wallace who scored 11.
Tournament notes
Named to the second team were Kyle Burns (BEC), Robin Tremblay (Loretteville), Kyle Marshall (Glace Bay), Ryan Harnett (Cole Harbour) and Romello Gough (Sackville).