Simon Fraser Red Leafs Tate Christiansen (left) and Matthys Van Bylandt, a pair of North Vancouverites and Handsworth Secondary graduates, have an emotional and energetic surge to the Simon Fraser Red Leafs in their redshirt-freshman seasons on the hill. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Simon Fraser athletics 2023. All Rights Reserved)
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Rookie Red Leafs rise to new challenges atop Burnaby Mountain! Ex-Handsworth stars Van Bylandt, Christiansen lead with work ethic while their talents begin to shine for Simon Fraser!

BURNABY — A mere three minutes of viewing may not be enough to constitute any kind of a scientific sample size.Yet if you were among the small crowd gathered earlier this month for the CCA Div. 2 Canadian Tip-Off Classic at the Langley Events Centre, you might have at least developed a pretty strong hunch […]

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Tsumura Basketball 2023: Follow your favourite TBI teams with our complete four-day brackets for all 64 of our boys and girls entrants!

LANGLEY — This past week we unveiled the opening-day draws in each of our four separate 16-team boys and girls pools at next month’s Tsumura Basketball Invitational senior boys and girls tournaments at the Langley Events Centre.Today, we’ve got the complete Wednesday-through-Saturday brackets for all four divisions of play.BOYS (Dec. 6-9)SUPER 16Click on link below […]

They're back! Kelowna's Nash Semeniuk, is pictured here being guarded by Claremont's Nico Vickers (left) and Dak Amor during on Day 1 of last March's B.C. Quad-A championship. All three rising seniors are on tap to take part in TBI 2023 Dec. 6-9 at the LEC. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2023. All Rights Reserved)
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BOYS DRAWS-TSUMURA BASKETBALL 2023: Who’s playing who in Round 1 of our Super 16 and Select 16 pools Dec. 6-9 at the LEC!

LANGLEY — Start the countdown to the 2023 edition of the Tsumura Basketball Invitational senior boys basketball tournament Dec. 6-9 at the Langley Events Centre.After months of planning, we’re thrilled to unveil the two brackets of 16 which will comprise the 32 teams taking part in this year’s festivities.Competing in both the Super 16 and […]

Trinity Western's David Mutabazi (right) dribbled past Ajay Mitchell of Santa Barbara on Tuesday at the Langley Events Centre as the Canada West's Spartans played host to the visiting, NCAA Div. 1 Gauchos. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters. com. All Rights Reserved)
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A SUNDAY READ: Tsumura on the joys of summertime basketball, NCAA Div. 1 foreign tours, and the road-less-travelled path of Trinity Western’s electric David Mutabazi!

LANGLEY — The best part of ageing into an ‘old’ basketball writer?For me, it’s that rare but reassured feeling I get, when against any reasonable expectation, a player straps the fortunes of his team on his back, and in this case almost carries them to an improbable upset.That is the place I found myself this […]

Frank Linder (right) and the rest of Nanaimo's Dover Bay Dolphins put on a show at the provincial tournament last March. The rising Grade 11 and the rest of the Dolphins make a Langley return in December for the 2023 TBI at the LEC. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2023. All Rights Reserved)
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TBI BOYS 2023: Our 32-team Tsumura Basketball boys unveil includes BC biggies, plus Cali’s Santa Margarita & Calgary-St. Mary’s, all at the LEC!

LANGLEY — The vast majority of B.C.’s very best teams will once again take to the court when the boys 2023 Tsumura Basketball Invitational tips off Dec. 6-9 at the Langley Events Centre.Yet as part of our latest December classic, which this year features two distinctly separate 16-team fields, we’re also thrilled to announce a […]

Oak Bays' Finnley Lillis (left) and the rest of Victoria's Bays will come into the 2023-24 B.C. senior boys Quad-A basketball season with the province's No. 1 ranking. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2023 by special permission. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C. boys preseason Top 10 hoops ranks: Oak Bay, Lord Byng, Pacific Academy, King David top the early charts!

LANGLEY — Just in time for summer, here is B.C. School Sports’ preseason senior boys varsity basketball rankings at all four tiers.Digest all of this as you anticipate the road to the 2024 provincials this March at the Langley Events Centre:BASKETBALLTOP 10 RANKINGSB.C. SENIOR BOYSPRESEASONQUAD A1 Oak Bay Bays (Victoria) (VI)2 Vancouver College Fighting Irish […]

Semiahmoo's Torian Lee was selected MVP of the 2023 B.C. senior boys Quad-A basketball championships after his Thunderbirds defeated fellow Surrey rival Fleetwood Park at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2023. All Rights Reserved)
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A SUNDAY READ: With a 39-point average margin of victory at 2023 Quad-A B.C.’s championships, are the Semiahmoo Thunderbirds ready to be counted as one of tourney’s all-time best teams? Let the debates begin!

LANGLEY — Take a day to ponder what was in all likelihood one of the most dominant four-day runs in top-tiered B.C. boys high school basketball history, and you come to the realization that the 2022-23 Semiahmoo Thunderbirds have to be counted among the greatest champs in the event’s 77-year history.With too many gaping holes […]

A repeat title seems just as sweet as the first for St. Patrick's players and fans on Saturday at the LEC. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2023. All Rights Reserved)
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A SUNDAY READ: Beneath its flash and dash, St. Pat’s reveal a new wrinkle as Celtics top hard-luck Dover Bay to repeat as B.C. Triple-A champions!

No. 1 ST. PATRICK’S 91 No. 2 DOVER BAY 80BY HOWARD TSUMURALANGLEY — Good basketball coaches know a good basketball team when they see one, and the second Nap Santos laid eyes on the Dover Bay Dolphins, he knew that somewhere along every defending champion’s perilous road to a repeat title, his team would have […]

Winning King David head coach David Amram is hoisted on the shoulders of his players after the Lions beat Unity Christian on Saturday in the B.C. senior boys Single-A high school basketball championship final, March 11, 2023 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2023 by special permission. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C. Single A final: Rally-minded King David tops No. 1 Unity Christian! Vancouver’s No. 2 Lions claim first-ever B.C. senior boys hoops title!

BY GARY AHUJA(The Langley Events Centre)LANGLEY — The King David Lions pulled off the upset, denying the Unity Christian Flames an opportunity for a third consecutive provincial banner.Trailing by eight points with 7:35 to play, the second-seeded Lions scored 12 of the final 16 points to deny their Chilliwack opponent’s three-peat bid. The two teams […]

Victorious King George coach Darko Kulic celebrates in a sea of fans after his Dragons put on a record-setting defensive clinic to beat Brentwood College during final day action at the B.C. senior boys high school basketball championships, March 11, 2023. (Photo by Mark Steffens property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2023. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C. Double-A final: MVP Bakare’s 41 points and a good luck charm help No. 2 King George to resounding win over No. 1 Brentwood College!

By Gary Kingston(Special for Varsity Letters)NO. 2 KING GEORGE DRAGONS 63  NO. 1 BRENTWOOD COLLEGE 33LANGLEY  – A rock. A simple little rock handed to him by his two-year-old daughter, Aria, was the good luck charm that King George Dragons head coach Darko Kulic kept in his pocket for four months.On Saturday at the Langley […]