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Against All Odds

Published by CROWN staff on March 17, 2009

Crown Staff
Vancouver, BC

This year’s preseason rankings in British Columbia had the St George Saints as the number one team in the province. Seven months later, the Saints found themselves on the big stage battling for BC supremacy in the Provincial Basketball Championships against a familiar foe, Vancouver College. Going into the tournament, most people counted the Saints out due to a season ending injury to Star forward Luke Braund. With rock-solid teams like South Kamloops, White Rock Christian and Vancouver College, I’d have to admit, I was one of those doubters.

It was only fair to believe that an injured, inexperienced team needed a miracle to pull off the unexpected, and win the BC championships! This miracle came in the form of a talented trio composed of grade 11 PG Emerson Murray, and seniors Joshua Robertson and Dillon Hamilton as they edged out the Vancouver College Irish with the slimmest of margins, 63-62.

Photo By Ron Hole

They had no choice but to pick up the slack, “Not many people thought we could come through without Luke, but I think our team finally moulded and came into our own in the provincial tournament,” says 6’8″ forward, player of the game, Joshua Robertson.

Joshua definitely moulded his efforts in his final high school game, posting a monster performance of 24 points and 21 rebounds. “Just knowing that this game would be the last game of my high school career, I came out giving it my all. I wanted to leave everything on the court,” he says. Glance over the stat sheet and you’ll be reminded that he did just that, averaging 15 pts, 10.2 rebs, 3.2 asts, and 3 blks per game throughout the tournament.
The 6’3″ junior, Emerson Murray was no slouch either as he led the Saints in scoring throughout the tournament, averaging 18.2 pts and 9.4 rbs.

For Full Championship game and tournament recap, visit