It was starting to look like the Woodlands Eagles’ playoff hopes were grounded. Then the Eagles soared.

Down nine points with two minutes left against the Gulf Islands Scorpions Tuesday night, the Woodlands senior AA boys’ basketball team staged a miraculous comeback to win 86-85.

It was a must-win – the Eagles and Scorpions were playing a neutral-site contest at Ladysmith Secondary School to see which team would advance to the Island championships.

“A great effort,” said Kal Dlay, co-coach of the Eagles. “They played really well; they played a team game.”

Theo Stewart hit a three-pointer with five seconds left to give his team the lead, then Joey Sabo stole the ball at midcourt to preserve the win.

Sabo had earlier assisted on two straight treys by Ryan Crawshaw to shrink the margin to three points.

Dlay said the team is obviously very excited about extending its playoff run, and is feeling good about its game.

“It definitely shows that we can play together at the end of a game in a close game,” said the coach. “The momentum from this game should carry over right into Islands for us.”

Woodlands will be one of the underdogs going into the tournament, which starts Thursday (Feb. 11) in Victoria. One of the teams to beat will be the Cedar Spartans, who are the North Island’s No. 2 seed.

Cedar coach Rick Hart said his team was going to try to polish its offence in preparation for zone defences it might run into.

“The boys will be ready,” he said.

COURT SHORTS … The Nanaimo District Islanders are competing in the AA Islands Thursday at Campbell River. The Dover Bay Dolphins start senior AAA girls' North Islands with a home game Thursday at 6 p.m. against Timberline. The winner will join the Wellington Wildcats in the second round of the tournament, which starts Friday at Ballenas Secondary School … In senior AAA boys' league play Tuesday night, Wellington fell to the Ballenas Whalers 70-54. Nathan Brown scored 15 to lead the Wildcats and Jason Sled added 12.

sports@nanaimobulletin.com