Bateman Timberwolves senior boys basketball coach Virinder Braich wasn't too proud to admit a bit of surprise in the wake of his team's 56-46 win over Brookswood in the opening round of the Fraser Valley East playoffs.
Braich could be forgiven – he was hardly the only one whose eyebrows were raised. The youthful Timberwolves, after all, had gone 0-8 during FV East regular season play, and trailed by 10 at halftime of Wednesday's elimination game at Walnut Grove Secondary in Langley.
But Bateman put together a terrific second-half performance, spearheaded by Grade 11 forward Riley Davis, and rallied to register a mild upset of the Bobcats, who had gone 2-6 in league play.
"We played some great defence in the second half," Braich acknowledged. "We're pretty young – we have a lot of Grade 11s – so we just wanted them to go play hard and do their best. They surprised me."
The bottom four seeds in the 10-team league played elimination games on Wednesday, with the winners securing a spot in the round of 32 at the Fraser Valley Tournament next week.
In the early game, the Chilliwack Storm ended the Mennonite Educational Institute Eagles' season, winning 76-61.
Thursday's schedule is as follows, with all games running at Walnut Grove:
3 p.m. – Walnut Grove vs. Chilliwack
4:45 p.m. – Mouat vs. Abby Collegiate
6:30 p.m. – Sardis vs. Maple Ridge
8:15 p.m. – Yale vs. Bateman
Semifinals run at 6:30 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. Friday, and the final is set for 8:15 p.m. Saturday.