EDMONTON, Alberta (August 6, 2022) -- At the Canada Basketball 17U Men’s National Championships, Ontario and Quebec advanced to Saturday’s semifinals. Ontario defeated Alberta 97-62 to punch their ticket, while Quebec took down British Columbia 124-108 to join them.

In Ontario’s victory, Anderson Cummins had a 16-point, seven-rebound, 8-assist performance in just 24 minutes as he led four players in double figures. Andrew Urosevic, Darius McGlashen and Mark Dike added 14 points apiece for Ontario.

After a close first quarter, Ontario held a five–point lead, 20-15. They extended their advantage to 11 points at the half, taking a 39-28 advantage into the break. After a floater from Cummins and then a three-point jumper from McGlashen, Ontario had stretched their lead to 18 points, 61-42 with 1:51 remaining in the third. After two more three-pointers from McGlashen and a dunk from Timothy Eze, Ontario went into the fourth ahead by 22 points. They rolled to the victory from there.

Ontario shot 47 percent from the floor, while holding Alberta to just 27 percent shooting. Urosevic’s four three-pointers led Ontario as the team connected on 11 threes in the game, while Alberta shot just 3-for-23 from beyond the arc.

Quebec had a lights-out shooting performance on Friday and a lights-out shooting performance was needed to take down a British Columbia team that had been scoring at will all week. Quebec shot 61 percent from the floor and connected on 9-of-15 attempts from three, while British Columbia shot 47 percent and made 7-of-22 attempts from long range.

Quebec’s Christopher Kumu Sheka Paraison had a team-best 19 points in the win while Sader Servilus stuffed the stats sheet with 18 points, six rebounds, three assists, five steals and three blocked shots. Quebec weathered huge performances from British Columbia’s Griffin Arnatt, who finished with 24 points and 16 rebounds, and Irish Coquia scored 26 points in the loss.

After an extremely close first quarter, Quebec managed to pull away in the final minutes of the quarter to lead 31-23 after the opening 10 minutes of the game. British Columbia opened the second quarter with three-pointers from Arnatt and Coquia to get within a point. After a four-point play from Coquia, British Columbia led by two. With the score tied at 35 points, Quebec put together a 9-0 run to build a nine-point lead midway through the quarter and led by seven, 62-55, at the half.

The teams traded baskets through the third quarter until a 7-0 run from Quebec midway through the quarter extended the lead to 14 points. Quebec continued to add to their lead and went into the fourth leading by 17 points. In the final frame, British Columbia kept pushing, but ran out of time to try to narrow the gap.

In 15U action, Ontario took down Nova Scotia in a dominant 91-59 decision as Nova Scotia struggled to score, making just 35 percent of their field goal attempts.

Ehikhueme Ehikhametalor led the way with 14 points and seven rebounds while Daunte Jones and Dwayne Smith Jr. added 11 points apiece. Nova Scotia was led by an 11-point effort from Peter Napier in the loss.

Ontario wasted no time getting points on the board, jumping out to a 33-10 lead after the first quarter. They overwhelmed Nova Scotia on the boards, winning the rebounding battle 63-33, including 25-10 on the offensive glass, and didn’t ever relinquish their lead, going into the half ahead by 23 and into the fourth leading by 34 points. They easily picked up the win from there.

British Columbia defeated Alberta 85-71 behind a 24-point effort from Logan Stewart who also finished with seven rebounds and four steals. Dionycius Bakare added a 14-point, 14-rebound double-double and Toren Franklin added 21 points. Alberta was led by Mrigendra Dhaliwal’s 20 points in the loss.

The game was close throughout with the teams tied at 37 at the half and Alberta taking a one-point lead, 57-56, into the fourth. British Columbia regained the lead to start the final quarter as Stewart hit a three on the first possession of the quarter. The teams traded leads and ties until British Columbia began to pull away. Back-to-back buckets from Bakare and Franklin extended the lead to 10 points with 3:40 remaining and British Columbia was able to roll to the victory from there.