Claremont's Ethan Boag (right) looks for space in the post against Holy Cross' Logan Mathers on Saturday in the fifth-seventh clash at TBI 2019. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

TBI 2019’s Fifth-place game: Victoria’s Claremont Spartans ready to rise in Big 10 poll after topping three ranked teams

LANGLEY — Victoria’s Claremont Spartans are ready to do some climbing this week when the Varsity Letters’ Big 10 Quad-A senior boys basketball rankings are released.Ben Manns drained a critical three-pointer with 56.9 seconds left, a highlight in the capital city crew’s game-closing 10-2 run, in a 77-72 win over Surrey’s No. 5-ranked Holy Cross […]

It's crash-and-bang time in the paint for Kelowna's Jayden Lalonde who is met in the post by Burnaby South's Karan Aujla on Friday at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Tsumura Basketball 2019: Super-powers trade thunder bolts before No. 2 Kelowna tops No. 1 Burnaby South to earn its TBI title shot

LANGLEY — No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchups in high school basketball should never go quietly into the night.Thankfully, the figurative basketball spirits left to inhabit Centre Court tonight at the Langley Events Centre following just such a contest in the semifinal round of the 2019 Tsumura Basketball Invitational must surely still be kicking up […]

Guarded by Duchess Park's Emir Zejnulahovic, Centennial big man Dominic Parolin prepares to execute in the past Friday night at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Tsumura Basketball 2019: Duchess Park Condors discover the perils of Parolin! Centennial star scores 39 to lead Centaurs to final

LANGLEY — If you wanted to see what it looked like to witness one player grabbing a basketball game by the figurative scruff of it’s neck, then you had to be sitting at Centre Court in the Langley Events Centre on Friday night.With his Centennial Centaurs nursing a seven-point lead with six minutes remaining against […]

Duchess Park guard Tanner Cruz (right) does his best to shake Holy Cross' Tee Anim during dramatic TBI quarterfinal clash Friday morning at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Tsumura Basketball 2019 Day 3: Elite 8 clashes complete! Get set for No. 1 Bby South vs. No. 2 Kelowna & Centennial vs. Duchess Park

LANGLEY — We’ve punched our Final Four dance card.Following quarterfinal-round action today, the Quad A No. 3 Centennial Centaurs of Coquitlam will face the Triple A No. 3 Duchess Park Condors of Prince George at 6:45 p.m., followed by the all-Quad-A No. 1 Burnaby South Rebels against the No. 2 Kelowna Owls.KELOWNA 101 TERRY FOX […]

Centennial's Dominic Parolin make an emphatic first-half statement for Coquitlam's Centennial Centaurs in its clash against the R.A. McMath Wildcats of Richmond during the Sweet 16 round of TBI 2019 on Thursday at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

FINAL EDITION: Tsumura Basketball Boys 2019 Day 2 Sweet 16! All the game reports from the Langley Events Centre

LANGLEY —We’re going final from Day 2 here at the 2019 TBI.Full game reports are below, but first, a reminder that Friday’s quarterfinal games kick off at 9 a.m., while the semifinals tip off at 6:45 p.m.All championship round games are being played on Centre Court, so if you wanted to get your fill of […]

SMUS' Karter Fry, drives to the basket between Tupper's DJ Laconsay (left) and Matthew Dunkerley during Wednesday's TBI Round 1 game at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

FINAL EDITION: Tsumura Basketball Invitational 2019 Boys – Our game-by-game reports live from the Langley Event Centre

LANGLEY — Welcome to the first day off the 2019 Tsumura Basketball Invitational.Please check back on this posting throughout the day for reports from the opening round’s four preliminary round games.SIR CHARLES TUPPER 56 SMUS 50LANGLEY — It was a game in which both teams could claim a disadvantage.East Vancouver’s Triple A No. 2-ranked Sir […]

Hunter Simson and the Kelowna Owls make a big climb up the boys Quad-A rankings. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

B.C. Senior Boys Basketball 12.04.19 rankings: Burnaby South lives up to Quad-A No. 1, Triple-A Sir Charles Tupper hot out of the gates

LANGLEY — It was a topsy-turvy opening for B.C. senior boys basketball as many top programs welcome back multi-sport athletes, while others move younger players into bigger leading roles this season.Nothing, however, slowed the progress of the Quad-A preseason No. 1 Burnaby South Rebels.Here’s a look at all four tiers of Big 10 rankings:BOYSQUAD A […]

Kelowna's Avery Chalmers and the rest of the Owls remain at No. 2 in first B.C. Quad-A basketball poll of the new season. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

B.C. senior girls basketball 12.04.19 rankings: Totems, Owls still rule Quad-A roost, but Terry Fox Ravens jump up to No. 3

LANGLEY — The Semiahmoo Totems and Kelowna Owls maintained their position atop the B.C. senior girls Quad-A basketball Top 10 rankings this week,Meanwhile, Port Coquitlam’s Terry Fox Ravens parlayed a 77-72 win over Langley’s Walnut Grove Gators in the championship final of The Big Ticket tournament last Friday in Abbotsford to jump three spots to […]

Fleetwood Park senior Amrit Bassi is the defensive conscience of Surrey's Grade-12 laden Dragons, who kick off the 2019 TBI on Wednesday at the LEC against R.A. McMath. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

TBI Boys 2019: Surrey’s senior-laden Fleetwood Park Dragons hope their full-circle journey begins and ends at the LEC

SURREY — Last season, the Fleetwood Park Dragons showed themselves as one of those teams capable of pulling off the big upset.Well, almost.Remember the Dragons’ 82-78 overtime loss in its league championship final to the same Holy Cross Crusaders’ team which would go on to beat both eventual B.C. champion Lord Tweedsmuir and powerhouse Terry […]

Simon Fraser's Jasdeep Singh has been a force for the Clan throughout the preseason, averaging a team-high 18.8 points per game. (Photo by Christian Serwold property of Western Washington athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)