Their first match-up, L.V. Rogers, turned out to be a little less challenging than originally expected and the Grizzlies marched to a 68-53 victory despite game-long foul troubles for Chris Thomson. On Thursday, in what was supposed to be a dynamite matchup against Brentwood College, the Grizzlies completely dominated defensively and held Brentwood to only 11 second-half points as they cruised to a 51-27 victory.
However, things get a little tougher on Friday at any Provincial Championships and this year was no exception. The Friday semi-final matchup against the Britannia Bruins presented the Grizzlies with probably their toughest opponent of the season thus far. Adding to the adversity was an injury to Micah Cockrill sustained on Wednesday afternoon as he woke up Thursday morning unable to shoot a basketball because of soreness in his wrist. X-rays taken less than two hours before gametime showed no broken bones so Cockrill taped up and took to the floor on Friday night.
The Grizzlies played Britannia tough at the beginning of the game but started to fall behind in the second quarter and trailed by eight points at halftime. They managed to have a strong third quarter but the Bruins were too much for Graham on this night as they came away with a 70-52 victory. The story of the game was the 46-34 rebounding margin in favour of Britannia as well as the fact that Graham only took 54 shots compared to Britannia's 67. It was a tough loss to swallow for the Grizzlies as it marked the end of their chances at a provincial championship (Britannia went on to defeat R.C. Palmer on Saturday to win their second provincial championship in three years).
On Saturday, the Grizzlies were still emotionally damaged after their semi-final loss but showed up to TRU with a desire to beat the Maroons from Clarence Fulton for the bronze medal. The Grizzlies started out very strong and led 42-27 at halftime. However, the Maroons came out much more aggressively in the second half and their press caused numerous Graham turnovers. The Maroons also rebounded much better in the second half and capitalized on endless second-chance opportunities. The Grizzlies closed the gap in the fourth quarter and nearly gave themselves a chance to win (because of many Fulton misses at the free throw line) but came up short and lost 83-75. Micah Cockrill had 37 points and Chris Thomson contributed 21 in their final high school games. Josiah Cockrill also had his strongest game of the tournament by adding 7 points for the Grizzlies.
Although finishing fourth would be disappointing by most standards, the Grizzlies exceeded everyone's expectations (probably even their own) by not only winning 2009-2010 AA Fraser Valleys but also having a strong showing at Provincials. Micah Cockrill was named to the First All-Star Team and Chris Thomson was given Honourable Mention status. Cockrill and Thomson both hope to play post-secondary basketball next year although their destinations are still up in the air. Meanwhile, the younger Grizzlies will start preparing for next year which could be a tough year as the Grizzlies lose their two best players and top scorers (Thomson and Cockrill combined for 73% of Graham's field goal attempts and 69% of the team's points at Provincials).
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