Unity 66 Glenlyon-Norfolk 65

Much of my Wednesday morning was spent sitting next to a sea of orange at the Langley Events Centre.  No, this was not a massive Gatorade spill, rather the entire student body of Unity Christian School out to support their senior boys team in Unity's first-round matchup against Glenlyon-Norfolk.

The beginning of the game saw Unity jump out to a quick lead although nerves were obvious as Unity missed many easy scoring opportunities.  Unity, typically a very strong rebounding team allowed Glenlyon to grab numerous offensive rebounds.  Nevertheless, Unity led 12-7 after the first quarter.

The second quarter was much the same with Unity pushing the ball but capitalizing on a higher percentage of their field goal attempts.  Keith Vugteveen and Brent Meyerink were the early offensive leaders for the Flames and their efforts helped Unity to take a 29-22 lead heading into halftime.

A completely different game trend emerged in the second half with Glenlyon-Norfolk using endless missed opportunities by Unity to take the lead late in the third quarter.  Brent Meyerink picked up his fourth foul early in the third which sent him to the bench for nearly the entire quarter.

The game was tied or within a margin of two points for most of the fourth quarter until Meyerink hit a three-pointer with 4:28 to play to put the Flames ahead by one.  However, Meyerink picked up his fifth and disqualifying foul (on a foolish block attempt) with 3:13 to play.  Unity, led by Keith Vugteveen, Curtis Vermeer, and a big three by Nathan Vugteveen, went on a solid run to take a seven-point lead with under a minute to play.  Glenlyon hit two late threes to pull the game within one but then missed a last-second heave from halfcourt giving Unity the 66-65 victory.

Unity now advances to play the number one seed, St. Patricks, on Thursday at 1:00pm.