36 - North Shore ‘News -— Wednesday, March 22, 2000 FULLBACK IS BACK North Vancouver's Sean Millington is returning te the B.C. Lions. The Lions regained the fullback in a March 13 trade with the Winnipeg Biue Bombers for linebacker Antonio Armstrong, offen- sive lineman Mathieu Seaudion and a fifth round draft pick. The 32-year-old. two-time CFL all-star played with 8.C. from 1991- 1997. He was the leaque’s most outstanding Canadian in 1997. Rutledge races with Lynx WEST Vancouver's David Rutledge makes his debut with the Lynx Racing Team Sunday this Sunday. Rutledge, 21, joined the California-based CART/Tovota Atiantic auto racing team last fall. The 12- event scason. begins with a doubleheader Sunday and Monday at Homestead Speedway in Miami. The Sunday race is prior to the opening of the FedEx ChampCar season opener. Lynx has raduced ChampCar drivers like Patrick Carpentier, Alex Barron and Memo Gidley. Rudedge’s car bears number .19, the same number used by Cerpentier and Gidley. Rutledge began racing in 1993 in go-karts and graduat- ed to cars in 1996 at the Bridgestone Racing school. He worked in the mechanics program and won the school championship with 10 wins, seven second-place finishes and three thirds in 21 races. He moved up to F2000 in 1997, scoring one win, two second-place. finishes, two fifth-pace finishes and a sixth. At the end of the season, he ran. the — final — three KOOL/Toyota . Adantic events, Qualifying sixth in his fisst-ever Atlantic race at . Road America. ‘In 1998, he became the " youngest “full-tine ‘driver in the Adantic series, finishing ninth overail in the series championship. 7 * Rutledge, driving: . car number 78, finished ninth again in last year’s secies aiter running 11 of 12 races. He had 5& driver points, includ- ing.a second place finish in the third. race of the year at Gateway. Anthony Lazzaro was the overall series winner with 197. points and four first place finishes. : “The CART /Adantic series is considered the farm system for the. FedEx/ChampCar series by racing aficionados. Lynx Racing, in its 10th year of operation, is the only championship-winning racing team/driver . development program owned by women: Peggy Haas and Jackie Doty. Ruticdge, however, won’t be racing at home this season. The CART /Adlantic series is skipping the Molson Indy Vancouver on Labour Day weekend. Instead, there will be a special Indy Lights race in memory of the late Greg Moore. so —~ Bes Mackin Bob Mackin Sports Reporter bmackin@nsnews.com THE Carson Graham Eagles are B.C.’s third best boys AAA basketball team — again. The Eagles beat Langley’s Wainut Grove Gators 70-60 Saturday night at the PNE Agrodome in Vancouver to claim third place in the provincial high school basketball championship. It was Carson Graham's second such finish in two years. The Eagles beat Richmond’s McRoberts Strikers for bronze in 1998. Carson Graham now has an 8-6 overall record in five provincia; tournaments. The North Shore has been repre- sented in the final just once: In 1982 the West Vancouver Highlanders edged the Argyle Pipers 49-48. In the 55th tournament, Eagle Brent Charleton was the high-scorer against the Gators with 33 points and 15 rebounds. The only other Eagle in double digits was Fred Winters with 22 points. The Eagles’ “twin towers” were both named to the tournament's first all-star team. Winters was the top Eagle scorer and rebounder through the whole event. In four games he had 95 points and 41 rebounds. Charleton had 91 and 36, respective- iy. The Eagles would have been the third North Shore team to play in the final had it not been for heroic plays by an opposing forward in the dying moments of Friday’s 67-64 semi-final loss to the ‘ierry Fox Ravens, Ravens’ forward Emmy Unaegbu scored a field goal to break a 58-58 tie with just over a minute renaining in the fourta quarter. He gained posses- sion by intercepting a midcourt pass from Eagle Bekrooz Mackvandi. Unacgbu was fouled on the piay and increasea his team’s lead to three points with a successful free chrow. Winters was. two-for-two at the free throw line to bring Carson Graham ro within 2 point with 9.9 seconds to go. Buz Dean Whalen took advantage of a pair of free throws to give the Ravens another thzee-point cushion with eight seconds left. Mackvandi, desperate to tie. the game and force overtime, launched 2 three- point attempt but was blocked by Unacgbu to end the game. “It was 4 game of a few mistakes,” said Eagies’ head coach Vern Porter. “I guess we made 2 few more than the other team.” ; The semi-finai match was the third Oz geari time the teams met this season, They gach won a game on the other's home court, “There were nvo good basketball teams, two even teams, they came out on top,” said Porter. “It’s been a great year, our goal was to win the tournament. We fell a little bit short.” Winters led both teams with 26 points and was the only Eagte to play the full 40 minutes. Charleton, who missed nine minutes of action, had 13 points. Whalen had 2+ for the Ravens. The teams waged a see-saw battle right from the start. Winters gave the Eagles a two-point advantage and 13- 11 score at the end of the first quarcer with a slam dunk with 1:45 left. The hardcourt chess match in the equestrian show building continued in the second quarter when the Eagles held a brief four-point lead. The Ravens clawed back and forced a 29- 29 halftime deadlock. Hamoud: Moijahedi turned the game in Carson's favour when he hit. a three-pointer with 1:25 gone in the third to give the Eagles a 37-31 lead. A few ininutes later, he did it again for a 44-37 advantage. Just as the Eagles appeared to have the edge, Charleton was charged with his fourth foul of the game. Porter removed him from the game to prevent Charleton from 2 fifth and disqualifying toul before the fourth quarter. The lead changed hands, but Winters took over and helped the Eagles to a seven-point bubble. The lead eroded to 50-48 by the begin- ning of the fourth quarter. Charleton remained on the bench to start the final quarter and could only watch as Whalen tied the game at 50-56 on the first play. The teams traded baskets and Steve Crump put his team ahead by two after Mojahedi missed a trey. Charlten returned mid- way through the quarter to put the Eagles: on-top briefly with a four- point lead. But the Ravens’ superior free throw shooting came back to haunt the Eagles. The Pitt Meadows Marauders needed overtime to beat Terry Fox 74-08 in the final late Saturday night. @ Third-place is common territory for North Shore teains. West Vancouver finished there five times (1953, 55, 59, 81, 92) while North Vancouver and Delbzock secondaries were bronze medal winners in 1966 and 1967, respectively. & The season isn’t entirely over for some players. The top graduating senior boys and girls basketball players from across the province play Saturday night in the annual B.C. High School ng up for 0 KARIVA UPDATE Unless North Vancouver's Steve Kariya is promoted to - the Canucks by Friday. local fans won't see nim play brother Paul of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks at GM Place until next season. (There is an cutside chance the 'Nucks and Ducks could meet in the playotts.} In 19 games with the Ametican Hockey League's Syracuse Crunch, Steve had 16 goals and 11 assists. CARSON Graham Eagles’ Fred Winters towers. over Terry. Fo Ravens during Friday's provinciai semi-finai at the Agredome. Th Ravens won the cleseic match-up 67-64 In the dying seconds. . All Star Games, Girls tip off at 5:30 p.m. The boys follow at 7:36 p.n. Both gamies are at the University of B.C.’s War Memorial Gym. A match between North Shore boys* high schoo} all-stars and those from Richmond is alse in the plan- lympic Ga ning stages. That would take place at Capilano College’s SportsPlex in earl April. Paul Eberhardt, the head coac! of Capilano Coilege’s men’s team and the McNair Marlins of the Richmond high school league, is planning: the’: event. THE land of Australia has been described in many ways, and its population is famous for the colourful, albeit sometimes blunt, ver- nacular better known. as Oz English or Aussie Siang. It’s also 4 country of incredible beauty and consid- ered one of the finest places an the olanet in which to live (not i. :huding our own par- adise). In about six months, the world’s finest athletes will be descending on Sydney to celebrate the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. My wife Debbie and I travelled to Australia’s largest city last month to “rake a gander” at the new Olympic site and from a physical standpoint the facilities just take your breath away. The crown jewel of the area, located about 16 kilo- metres north of downtown, is Stadium Australia.” This gigantic construction ° will host the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the track and field competi-~:. : tions and has a seating capac- ity of 110,000 — the largest ia the history of the modern See Traffic page SB.