The Kelowna Owls pulled off perhaps the biggest upset in the 63-year history of the Snowball Classic Basketball Tournament on Friday (Jan. 17) night.
The Owls were matched up with the Los Angeles-based Fairfax Lions team in the tournament semifinal and escaped with an 83-82 overtime win to stun the fans in attendance at Abbotsford Senior Secondary School.
Shocking result out of the Snowball Classic Basketball Tournament in Abbotsford, as the Kelowna Owls defeated L.A.91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s 83-82 in overtime in the semifinal.
91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ” Ben Lypka (@BenLypka)
Here91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s the last few possessions from the game. Kelowna now plays in Saturday's final 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ“
Kelowna hit the game's final basket with 1:12 left to take the one-point lead. The next two possessions saw a Fairfax miss and a Kelowna miss. The Lions then drew a foul, but missed both shots from the charity stripe. Fairfax rebounded after the second miss, but again couldn't make a shot.
The Owls missed another shot with about 12 seconds left, but the Lions were charged with an offensive foul and the Owls missed a late shot as the clock ran out.
Fairfax, a Nike-sponsored school, won the Snowball Classic in all three of their previous appearances. They beat Pitt Meadows in 2011, Yale in 2013 and Burnaby South in 2015. Basketball fans may recognize the Fairfax colours as regularly worn by Lebron James, including the Fairfax Nike LeBron 22 shoe 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ“ which he debuted this week.
Kelowna's Devon Johal was named the player of the game. The Owls last made it to the Snowball Classic final in 2017, but lost to the Walnut Grove Gators.
Kelowna will meet the MEI Eagles in Saturday's final, as the Abbotsford-based school punched their ticket with a 90-81 win over the Vancouver-based St. George's Saints. MEI's Mercer Thiessen was named the player of the game in the semifinal win.
Last month MEI won the Abbotsford Police City Basketball Tournament and they also posted Snowball Classic wins over Burnaby South and College Park earlier this week.
The Eagles and Owls tip-off at 8 p.m. inside the Abbotsford Senior gym.