King George's Kio Nickel battles hard against the Byrne Creek Bulldogs during TBI Select 16 quarterfinals 12.05.24 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Ryan Molag property Langley Events Centre-TFSE 2024. All Rights Reserved)
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TBI 2024 Day 2: Select 16 Elite 8 game reports! Dragons-Cats, ‘Canes-Cavs punch Final 4 tickets!

Welcome to Day 2 of the Select 16 here at TBI 2024!Tonight, Gary Kingston provides game reports! Please check back throughout the evening for updates!KING GEORGE 50   BYRNE CREEK 36By GARY KINGSTON (Special for Varsity Letters)LANGLEY – In a sparsely filled gym at the Langley Events Centre, Darko Kulic’s full-throated voice reverberates like a […]

The star of the day Thursday is STM's Zeru Abera who dropped 41 points during his team's rally from a 20-point fourth quarter deficit against St. George's in the TBI Super 16 quarterfinals 12.05.24 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Ryan Molag property Langley Events Centre-TFSE 2024. All Rights Reserved)
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FINAL: TBI 2024 Day 2: Super 16 Elite 8 game reports! Its STM-VC, St Pats-Dover in Friday Final 4!

Welcome to Day 2 of the TBI boys Super 16.It’s Elite 8 Thursday.We’ve already had an all-timer with STM’s incredible rally past St. Georges. Keep checking back for updates from our final three games throughout the evening.(All stories by Howard Tsumura)ST. THOMAS MORE 82 ST. GEORGES 80LANGLEY — At one point in the second half, […]

St. George's Roman Simmons (left) tries to keep Heritage Woods' Afu Bullock under wraps during game 1 of the TBI Super 16 bracket Dec. 4, 2024 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura exclusive property of VarsityLetters.ca 2024. All Rights Reserved)
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We’ve gone final: You can read all eight TBI 2024 Super 16 Day 1 game reports right here!

LANGLEY — We’ve gone final!After eight championship round games in the Super 16 round, here’s a game report and photos from each. Many thanks to photographer Wilson Wong for his contributions to the post!Before we get there, here’s all of tomorrow’s quarterfinal matchups:SUPER 16 QUARTERFINALS(All games at South Court)3 p.m. — St. George’s vs. St. […]

Byrne Creek's Gabe Masangkay (right) is guarded by Langley Christian's Tyse Wagenaar during game 1 of the TBI Select 16 bracket Dec. 4, 2024 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura exclusive property of VarsityLetters.ca 2024. All Rights Reserved)
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We’ve gone final: You can read all eight TBI 2024 Select 16 Day 1 game reports right here!

LANGLEY —  Day 1 here at the 2024 Tsumura Basketball Invitational is now final.My sincere thanks to Gary Ahuja for his reporting from the South Court site today!Here’s tomorrow’s schedule on the championship side of the draw:SELECT 16 QUARTERFINALS(All games at Centre Court)3 p.m. — Byrne Creek vs. King George4:30 p.m. — Brookswood vs. A.R. […]

Deven Johal (left) of the Kelowna Owls looks to avoid the outstretched shot block attempt of Vancouver College's Ashton Wong during third-place clash at the Kodiak Classic Invitational hosted 11.30.24 by Heritage Woods Secondary School in Port Moody. (Photo by Howard Tsumura exclusive property of VarsityLetters.ca 2024. All Rights Reserved)
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TBI Boys 2024: Vancouver College comes to TBI ready to shoot the three! Inspired Irish, under head coach Shams, not weighed down by program’s lengthy B.C. title drought!

PORT MOODY —  On Saturday night, just a handful of hours away from the clock striking December, the Vancouver College Fighting Irish basketball team put on a demonstration of passing, three-point shooting… and the contagious nature of shared smiles.The occasion was the third-place game of the Heritage Woods Kodiak Classic senior boys tournament, and as […]

As the crowd watches, Dover Bay's Frank Linder is guarded by Oak Bay's Diem Orser during championship game action at the Kodiak Classic Invitational hosted 11.30.24 by Heritage Woods Secondary School in Port Moody. (Photo by Howard Tsumura exclusive property of VarsityLetters.ca 2024. All Rights Reserved)
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TBI Boys 2024: Quad-A No. 2 Dover Bay, MVP Frank Linder headline Wednesday at Tsumura Basketball Invitational after topping No. 4 Oak Bay in Kodiak Classic title clash!

PORT MOODY — Funny thing how the truly great games all seem to have that one moment which goes on to serve as its handle for future reference.This past Saturday night, midway through the fourth quarter of the final game of the first week of the new B.C. senior boys high school basketball season, fans […]

Doing his best to slow Semiahmoo forward Jack Snead (left) is St. Patrick's Riley Santa Juana during fifth-place game action at the Kodiak Classic Invitational hosted 11.30.24 by Heritage Woods Secondary School in Port Moody. (Photo by Howard Tsumura exclusive property of VarsityLetters.ca 2024. All Rights Reserved)
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Ahead of its Tsumura Basketball opener Wednesday at LEC, Triple-A No. 2 St. Pat’s puts its three-point DNA on display during fifth-place finish at Kodiak Classic!

PORT MOODY — The proliferation of, and reliance on the three-point shot is certainly the grand separator when today’s game is contrasted against a generation past.And yes, we get it, that’s no news flash.Yet while so much has changed from even those turn-of-the-century days when the NBA still called this city home, there are still […]

Simon Fraser's Sophia Wisotzki splits the Tampa post defence during action between the host Red Leafs and visiting, No. 4-ranked Spartans Nov 3, 2024 at CCA Div. 1 Canadian Tip-Off Classic at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo exclusive property of Varsity Letters via VL Sports Services 2024. All Rights Reserved)
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SFU women’s basketball notebook: The rise of senior Sophia Wisotzki to NCAA D-2’s No. 2 scorer, plus West Region tidbits and all there is to love about the Red Leafs’ press!

BURNABY — Simon Fraser’s Sophia Wisotzki is more used to making the news every time she brings her dynamic two-way game to the court this season for the Red Leafs’ basketball team.On Wednesday night, however, she had the news delivered to her.“Oh, I didn’t know that,” the 6-foot senior guard and kinesiology major admitted when […]

SFU guard Irish Coquia has made a smooth transition from high school at East Vancouver's St. Patrick's Regional, to the NCAA Div. 2 ranks with the Red Leafs. (Photo by special request for VarsityLetters.ca. All images remain property of Varsity Letters 2024. All Rights Reserved)
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Simon Fraser’s Irish Coquia: As backcourt injuries mount, former St. Pat’s star comes of age in NCAA behind career-high 34 points, 10 assists in Red Leafs’ 2-OT win!

BURNABY — Soloist and conductor.The wheel of attrition has ground down especially hard on the Simon Fraser men’s basketball team over the first month of its 2024-25 season.And as its ranks have thinned at the guard spots, the Red Leafs’ urgency to get performance from one of its youngest players has grown exponentially over the […]

During a timeout Saturday on his way to his 600th overall win at UBC is 'Birds head coach Kevin Hanson. Afterwards, he remarked "...I continue to tell coaches that you have to celebrate every win because you never know when your next one is going to happen." (Photo by Richard Lam property of UBC athletics 2024. All Rights Reserv
Feature University Men's Basketball

A Sunday Read: As UBC’s Kevin Hanson becomes fifth member of U Sports’ 600-win hoops club, the ‘Birds 25-year head coach reflects on what brings true meaning to milestone moments!

VANCOUVER — On a night when Kevin Hanson joined one of the most exclusive coaching fraternities in all of U Sports men’s basketball, there was still no confusing the fact that nothing worth celebrating had ever been earned in a vacuum.Yet don’t misunderstand just how much it meant to the UBC head coach that his […]