Blues Prevail

A dominant opening quarter paved the way for the Capilano Blues on the way to an 89-63 win over the Douglas College Royals in the PACWEST quarterfinals.

The Blues scored the first three buckets of the game and prompted Douglas to call a timeout just 1:22 into the game. David Featherston Jr. led the assault for the Blues early with seven of the Blues first nine points on his way to an 11-point, six-rebound evening.

Douglas had difficulty getting any easy looks at the basket and didn’t help themselves with a 2-for-16 showing from three-point range while also going just 9-for-28 from the free-throw line.

Capilano energized the home crowd in the second frame with a dunk by Zach Klim and a putback jam by Featherston Jr. They received a big boost off the bench from Ajaypal Hayer as he scored seven of his 18 points in the second quarter, helping the Blues to a 13-point advantage at halftime, punctuated by an Arshya Ghasemi step-back three just before the buzzer.

It was an atypically quiet evening for Blues all-stars Kash Lang and Damein Coleman as they each got into foul trouble and couldn’t find rhythm offensively. Fortunately for the Blues, their supporting cast picked them up with Russell Curley hitting a trio of threes in the third quarter while Klim ended up with nine points and six boards coming off the bench.

Scottie Austin finished the game strong for Douglas, with seven of his team-high 18 in the final frame but the Royals never seriously threatened the Blues lead.

Capilano moves on to the PACWEST semifinals and will face No. 2-seed Camosun Friday in an 8 p.m. tipoff.

Players of the Game

Douglas – Efe Ilica

Capilano – Ajaypal Hayer