LANGLEY TOWNSHIP — Welcome to Day 1 of the 2026 B.C. senior boys Double-A basketball championship, coming to you from the Langley Events Centre.
Please check back here regularly as our team of writers provide first-hand game coverage from the eight sudden-elimination games being contested at this tier.
Thanks for your loyalty!
Howard Tsumura
DOUBLE A (AT SOUTH COURT)
DAY 1
NO. 14 SUMMERLAND 90 NO. 3 SOUTHRIDGE 70
By Howard Tsumura
Varsity Letters
(Note to our loyal readers, due to its historical nature, this story will appear as both a standalone story and as part of out package of Day 1 Double A game reports.)
LANGLEY — Mateo Ducheck is still 16 and hasn’t yet progressed past his ‘L’ or his learner’s licence.
Yet when it comes to driving on the basketball court, few before him at the B.C. high school level have ever had a night like the one that the 6-foot-3, Grade 11 point guard with the Summerland Rockets enjoyed.
On Wednesday, with the B.C. senior boys Double-A championships working its way through an emotion-filled eight-game opening day, the scene along one baseline at the Langley Event Centre’s South Court, quite organically, grew into a something closer to Hollywood paparazzi.
Word had filtered out as to the prodigious scoring abilities of Ducheck, and before anyone knew it, the fact that the No. 14 Rockets were suddenly in full command of the No. 3-ranked Southridge Storm of Surrey seemed to be of little importance.
Of course that was not the case to anyone with a rooting stake in the game, from Storm players and coaches, to their families and their student body.
Yet what Ducheck was doing was so incredible, that quite suddenly, every eye in the house hung on his every move.
Ducheck wound up scoring 59 points to lead the Rockets to a 90-70 victory, and no one here is trying to downplay that aspect. It was the biggest upset of the day.
Yet Duchek’s 59 points put him two shy of the 61 points scored by Greg Devries of Nelson’s L.V. Rogers in a win over Agassiz in the quarterfinals of the 1991 B.C. 2A tourney held in Victoria.
That classifies Ducheck’s total as not only the second highest single-game scoring performance in 2A tourney history, but also the second highest in the tier on the championship side of the draw, a unique and important distinction.
It’s also the most old school performance of that magnitude in recent provincials memory, because Ducheck, who had 32 points by halftime, hit just two three-pointers the entire game. He was 17-of-22 from the free throw line.
“When you get going, you kind of just like get in a flow,” said Ducheck, who last year as a 10th grader, scored 38 points in Summerland’s opening game of the B.C.’s. “So it starts with my teammates hitting me, and then you can just get yourself going and make harder shots.”
Watching Ducheck in action is just another reminder that it’s not always about explosiveness and quicks.
Ducheck never hesitates when he engages in dribble-drive motion, yet there is something unique about the way his combination of stride length and vision allow him to get past his foes as if walking through the raindrops. Kind of like a slow-motion highlight reel happening real time.
Ducheck says he gets compared to current Minnesota Timberwolves guard Kyle Anderson, who by the way, is nicknamed ‘Slow-Mo’.
“My club coach says I go too slow, but I’ve got long steps,” Ducheck says. “I can make it to the rim, yeah. And just not going straight to the net. Like, I’ll make the right play if someone’s wide open, too.”
The B.C. high school records don’t distinguish whether any of its performances were recorded on the championship side of the draw or not.
The most points scored in the four-tier era’s new Triple-A ranks (2014-25) is 49 by Dover Bay’s Luke Linder in 2023.
The most points scored in Quad-A tournament history encompasses the original tier’s time as an open, single tier, as a 2A tier, as 3A tier and now as a 4A tier.
It’s best-ever recorded performances:
Nathan Vogstad, 75 points for Queen Charlotte 2014
Miguel Tomley, 66 points for Tamanawis 2018
Sam Vandermeulen , 58 point for Abbotsford, 1965
It is because records are not complete that no absolute claims can be made. In fact there are no all-time single-game scoring records lists at all for the Single-A tier in the official tournament program, and it’s a 200-page program.
Vogstad, Tomley and Vandermeulen, all electric scorers, able to get in a zone and prove unstoppable, all recorded their performances after their teams had been knocked out of tournament contention. This takes nothing away from how incredible they continue to remain, especially Vandermeulen’s which survived for more than two generations before Vogstad broke it. Tomley’s came on the final day of the tournament in the third-place game against Belmont and it gave him the highest scoring average in tournament history at 44.8 mpg. Vogstad’s was an incredible, breathtaking performance, as the most points ever scored in a B.C. boys high school game included a stunning 11 treys.
Yet points scored when the lights are brightest, when championship dreams are still alive, continue to hold a mythical place in the high school annals.
Thus, without 1A records, but knowing DeVries’ 61 came on the championship side gives Ducheck’s performance a unique distinction as the second-highest known single-game scoring total on the championship side of the boys draw across all tiers in the 80-year history of the B.C. high school basketball championships.
“It’s unreal, and we almost take it for granted what he’s doing because he just does it all the time,” said Summerland head coach Matthew Raimondo, who watched about 10 days ago as Ducheck scored a career-high 61 against South Okanagan of Oliver in the Thompson-Okanagan semifinals. “Like he’s probably as close to 40 a game right now. But the best part of this game is he guarded the other Matteo the entire game, number 14 for them. And really did a good job on him. So we’re tiring him out on both sides of the court and he’s still able to put those numbers up and, you know, it’s pretty incredible to watch it.”
Raimondo was referring to Southridge’s own star, 6-foot-1 senior guard Matteo Cavaleri who still scored a team-high 24 points, albeit in the shadows of one of the top scoring performances in B.C. high school championship tournament history.
Summerland puts its No. 12 seed on the line tomorrow when it faces Thompson-Okanagan rival and No. 11 seed Kalamalka in an 8:45 p.m. quarterfinal at South Court.
NO. 1 NOTRE DAME 118 NO. 16 FERNIE 76
By Howard Tsumura
Varsity Letters
LANGLEY — Cam Wright is still just 26, and… he’s a Vancouver College grad.
Yet what Wright has done over the space of almost two complete seasons is lift his alma mater’s fiercest arch-rivals, the Notre Dame Jugglers (in football most will say, but also in life as others may protest), into a place of provincial title contention… and it’s a feeling that has not been felt around the football-first East Vancouver school since the early 1980s.
“It means a lot to us,” Wright, also a former Saskatchewan Huskies hoop grad said with pride Wednesday after the No. 1-seed Jugglers showed off their coast-to-coast, run-and-fun chops at the LEC’s South Court here on the opening day of the B.C. senior boys Double-A championships with a 118-76 win over a very capable crew of No. 16 Fernie Falcons
With both point guard (and football quarterback) Caleb Parrotta and off-guard Connor Mabel moving together as if identical twin brothers, the duo combined for a whopping 80 points on the game. It was impressive but, if you’ve watched them play this season, completely within their character.
Wright pulled his starters for the fourth quarter after Notre Dame built a 106-61 lead after three frames.
“We got a bunch of super athletic guards that kind of can get out and score and do different things,” said Wright after Mabel poured home a game-high 42 points and Parrotta, a true scoring point, added another 38.
“So absolutely, we want to run at a good tempo,” continued Wright. “I mean, at the same time, you know, we pride ourselves on our defence, obviously. Maybe we didn’t show too much against Fernie there.”
Yet for a program that has not been able to sustain any kind of enduring season-in-season-out tradition as a provincial hoops contender, Wright has let the play of his team do the talking, while letting the curious historians plumb the depth of a last half-century trying to discover what their highest peaks have been.
Fortunately for your ink-stained scribe, writing stories next door in Arena Bowl proved fortuitous because one of the tournament’s longtime directors is none other than B.C. high school football’s most decorated coach, George Oswald.
Yet Oswald also coached the Notre Dame boys team that won the very first B.C. junior boys champions in 1970.
Then, in 1982, while coaching with Larry Street, the former SFU hoops standout and longtime head coach of the senior boys team at Courtenay’s GP Vanier, the Jugglers would finish fifth at the 1982 top-tiered provincial tourney.
Last season, some 43 years later, the fresh-faced Wright led Notre to the same finish at the Double-A BC tourney.
Back this season as the No. 1 seed, they have knocked it out of the park… or perhaps in the spirit of its most decorated athlete Lui Passaglia, they have figuratively put it through the uprights.
The connections, of course, never quit at this tournament.
Oswald coached Passaglia and a host of other Notre Dame stars on that 1970 junior team, and Lui was known more as the Jugglers starting QB in his high school days and later at Simon Fraser.
Now, here comes Parrotta, a 6-foot-2 senior, stoking the collective inner-Juggler of the entire Notre Dame nation.
“His basketball IQ, his basketball knowledge, the way he gets his other teammates involved is one thing, and then, you know, his ability to score, obviously, is super impressive,” said Wright. “He can get downhill. But at the same time, getting his teammates involved and defensively as well, you know, can really guard.”
Now, Notre Dame gets the No. 9 seeded Westsyde Whundas, the Thompson-Okanagan champs from Kamloops who beat No. 8 Charles Hays of Prince George by a decisive 77-54 score.
That quarterfinal clash goes at 5:15 p.m. Thursday.
Oscar Wrigglesworth led five Falcons in double figures with 15 points.
NO. 9 WESTSYDE 77 NO. 8 CHARLES HAYS 54
By Howard Tsumura
Varsity Letters
LANGLEY — Four years ago this Saturday, the Westsyde Whundas won a basketball game that has done more for the culture and belief of its program than anything before or since.
The Whundas, seeded No. 4 in that B.C. Double-A championship tourney, battled tooth and nail with the Lambrick Park Lions of Victoria, before the Kamloops school finally won by a 73-71 score.
Whundas head coach Ryan Porter was not going to deny that the carryover from that momentous victory continue to inspire, yet at its core remains the belief that to under-estimate any opponent is to expect certain defeat.
Not that that had any chance of happening Wednesday, especially when you are the No. 9 seed in the anticipated 8-9 clash.
And when the smoke had cleared, and the Whundas had advanced to tomorrow’s quarterfinals against the No. 1-seed Notre Dame Jugglers by virtue of a decisive 77-54 win over Prince Rupert’s Charles Hays Rainmakers, Porter could easily acknowledge what that B.C. title back in 2022 has done for all of his player, including this season’s Thompson-Okanagan champs.
“Like once you sort of break the seal, if you will, right, it kind of gives everybody belief and understanding of what is possible, right? And, yeah, our program’s been a lot of fun. The boys who are a part of it know it’s a special thing to be a part of. And we always think we have a chance until we don’t.”
Jaren Porter led the team’s balanced attack with 15 points as an 18-6 Whundas run to start the second quarter out them up 39-19.Jacob McKearney added 13, Calder McLeod 11 and Barrett Thompson 10.
Nate Sawka led the Rainmakers with 14 points and Carl Sampson added 12.
Four years ago, Westsyde didn’t have to go through the No. 1 team until championship Saturday.
This season, that honour comes Thursday.
“When you play a team like Notre Dame right now they are an adrenalized group, enjoying a high that hasn’t been around since the 1980s, so what are you expecting,” he is asked.
“Well, we’re expecting the best team in the province right now to give us everything we can handle,” said Porter. “And we’ve got to figure out a way in the next 30 hours to give ourselves a chance. We’re expecting a juggernaut tomorrow and we’ve just got to concoct some sort of plan and hope they miss as many shots as possible.”
NO. 4 KING GEORGE 65 NO. 13 CARIBOO HILL 38
By IAN FRENCH (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY — This year marks the 10th trip in a row to the B.C. senior boys Double-A provincial championships for the King George Dragons. Coming in as the fourth-ranked squad, they were looking to channel their inner 2023 season that saw them win it all. However, their first test was against a fast, long and gritty 13th-seeded Cariboo Hill Chargers in opening-round action. After defence led to a slow scoring start, the Dragons caught fire offensively and soared to a decisive 65-38 win.
Senior forward Himat Dosanjh led the Chargers on offence, scoring a game-high 19 points. Senior Dragons’ centre Oleg Orlov totalled a team-high 18 points – 12 of which came in the third quarter, while sophomore guard Rei Ikeda was not far behind with 17 points of his own to go alongside his countless assists, earning player of the game honours in the process.
“We knew what we wanted to do, we wanted to control the pace”, began Ikeda. “If we don’t let them speed us up, if we play at our own pace, we’ll get good shots, and that’s what led us to the win.”
Both teams came out of the gate with an emphasis on defence. With tough close-outs on both sides of the floor, neither side gave an inch. Senior Dragons forward Leon Latinovic highlighted a low-scoring opening frame by knocking down the only three-pointer of the quarter. Alongside a pair of buckets from junior forward Mihailo Lukic, the Dragons found themselves up 15-8 by the end of one.
The Dragons’ offence began clicking early in the second. In the opening minute, Ikeda finished off a smooth passing play that touched many hands around the arc before landing in his, sinking an open corner three to establish a 10-point lead. A few minutes later, Lukic posted up, inching his way towards the hoop by backing down a defender. As a second defender closed in, it left Ikeda wide open to sink a wide-open jumper. On the following possession, Ikeda drove to the basket before dumping it off to Lukic for the easy lay-in. The pair combined for 15 of their team’s 21 points in the frame, heading into halftime up 36-16.
Coming out of the break, senior Chargers centre Abeel Chobang opened the scoring with a lay-up in transition, but the Dragons got it right back with a quick two points of their own on the other end. This sequence encapsulated the next few minutes as both sides traded blows, but the Dragons began to lock down defensively while continuing to pour it on offensively. They rebounded their way to a handful of second-chance points, while clogging passing lanes for steals and easy scores on the break. As the clock ticked down, Dosanjh nailed a three-pointer on the wing to try to will the Chargers back into this one, but the mountain was too steep to climb. The Dragons continued to hum the rest of the way, inflating their lead through to the final buzzer, earning a 65-38 win.
“We listened to coach. Whatever coach Darko [Kulic] was saying, it really helped us figure out the right play”, said Dragons’ centre Orlov. “We just trusted each other.”
The King George Dragons advance and will face the winner between the Surrey Christian Falcons and the L.V. Rogers Grizzlies, scheduled for 3:30 p.m. PT on March 5, at the Langley Event Centre’s South Court.
NO. 5 SURREY CHRISTIAN 82 NO. 12 L.V. ROGERS 76
By IAN FRENCH (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY — It’s March, so the madness begins.
The 12th-seeded L.V. Rogers Grizzlies came in against the fifth-ranked Surrey Christian Falcons with something to prove. It was an electric, back-and-forth matchup between two heavy-hitters, both of which looked in top-rank form, but there was only one that could move on in the B.C. senior boys Double-A provincial championship. After a hot start for the Grizzlies that gave them a sizable advantage, the Falcons slowly clawed their way back before taking off in the second half and holding on for an 82-76 win.
Junior guard Elijah Marcum-McCormick led the Grizzlies in scoring, totalling 18 points, while senior guard Jack Boyes chipped in with 15 points of his own, including three three-pointers. Senior guards Lleyton and Elijah Kelly led the offensive charge for the Falcons, tallying 21 and 17 points respectively. While Tyus Buys knocked down four threes and finished with 15 points in the win.
“Lleyton is a born leader, aside from the scoring, he lifts up his team on and off the floor”, mused Surrey Christian head coach Josh Buys. “And Tyus’ scoring in the first kept us afloat and kept us in this one.”
From the opening tip, defence and steals highlighted early play for both sides. However, the Grizzlies’ scoring touch came first. After a pair of L.V. Rogers’ buckets, senior guard Chase Lake knocked down a three-pointer that energized his bench. He followed suit with another two-pointer on the next possession to highlight an early 11-0 run for his squad. With momentum on the Grizzlies’ side, they worked up a healthy 20-7 lead late in the first, with a 26-16 advantage by the end of the quarter.
Senior guard Jack Boyes drained a long ball early in the second, but a pair of possessions later, the Falcons responded by knocking down a three of their own. Then, it was the Sidney Kelly show. After converting a layup in transition, he followed with a steal and quickly made his way up the court before the six-foot guard rose for a slam dunk, igniting his bench as well as the crowd while making it a 10-point game once again. From here, the Falcons started humming. After a fight for rebounds on the offensive glass, the ball found its way to Lleyton Kelly, who made his way to the three-point line before firing for the score. The Falcons continued to claw back; every possession seemed to lead to points, including the final shot of the third. The Falcons drove, then kicked it out with a high-arching pass to find senior forward Joel Zutter, who calmly caught it and fired for three in the final seconds to tie the game at 42 apiece heading into the break.
Schemes changed, gameplans adapted, and defence took centre stage once again to start the second half. However, the Falcons kept pressing and opened on a 9-0 run, highlighted by Lleyton Kelly, who drove and spun around a defender on the break before laying an athletic up-and-under layup for the score. Later in the frame, and with the Falcons boasting a 10-point lead of their own, the Grizzlies responded. In the final minutes, L.V. Rogers knocked down back-to-back three-balls to quickly make it a three-point game. Both teams traded shots – most of which came from beyond the arc – for the remainder of the quarter, ending with a narrow Falcons lead, 63-59.
Through tough buckets inside and out, and sound defence on the other end, the Falcons upped their lead back to 10. As the clock dwindled, their lead inflated, working up as much as a 17-point advantage in the frame. But the Grizzlies didn’t roll over. They fought to stay in this one until the final buzzer but couldn’t overcome the deficit, falling 82-76.
“That—”, began coach Buys while pointing to the Grizzlies bench, “is a good basketball team. It could have gone either way.”
The Surrey Christian Falcons now move on to Day 2 and will face the King George Dragons at the Langley Event Centre’s South Court on March 5, scheduled for 3:30 p.m. PT.
NO. 6 PACIFIC CHRISTIAN 82 NO. 11 KALAMALKA 72
By IAN FRENCH (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY — Continuing Day 1 action of the B.C. senior boys Double-A provincial championship, the battle-tested, sixth-ranked Pacific Christian Pacers faced off against a surging underdog, the 11th-seeded Kalamalka Lakers – and from the tip to the final buzzer, it was a grit-filled, back-and-forth affair. However, Lakers’ senior Tylen Lewis’ 32 points and presence inside the paint pushed the Lakers to a late surge as they secured an 82-72 win.
Senior guard Judah Henkel led all Pacer scorers with 25 points, including four three-pointers, while senior guard Tommy Reems chipped in with 21 points of his own. Lakers centre Lewis added countless rebounds and assists to go alongside his game-high 32 points, while senior guard Mason Clerke was not far behind, finishing the day with 29 points and added a mountain of rebounds as well.
“The unique thing about Tylen is he has the ability to handle the ball, shoot from outside and be very strong inside”, mused Kalamalka head coach Glenn Garvie. “He has very few weaknesses in that sense, so he’s very tough to guard.”
The Lakers kicked this one off with four quick points, but Reems responded for Pacific Christian with a quick-shot three. This short sequence proved to be a window into the rest of the game as both teams traded blows throughout. After plenty of lead changes and ties, the Lakers held a narrow 18-15 advantage by the end of the opening frame.
Similar to the first quarter, the Lakers kicked off the second with a pair of buckets, but the Pacers continued to win battles on the glass for second-chance points early on to keep things neck-and-neck. However, Pacific Christian could only do so much to contain Clerke as he caught fire throughout the frame’s opening minutes, scoring six of his team’s first eight second-quarter points. But the Pacers never backed down; they continued to create opportunities inside and out, and from here, the lead seesawed.
The Lakers continued to show great ball movement. Their perfectly timed passes consistently found cutters, and alongside some stellar outside shooting, they were able to create some breathing room on the scoreboard. In the dwindling minutes of the second, the Lakers drove and swung the ball continuously to find the open man before it landed in the hands of Lewis, who drove, got blocked, snagged his rebound and put it back for two of his 16 points in the frame. Then, on the following possession, Lewis added an elbow jumper to establish a seven-point advantage for his side heading into the break.
Opening the second half, Pacific Christian got on the board with a midrange jumper, but Clerke responded for Kalamalka with one of his own through contact, drawing the foul and converting the and-one opportunity. A few minutes passed, and Pacers’ Reems connected on another three-pointer, this time over a defender on the wing to cut the lead to three. But the Lakers never wavered. Through a mix of paint scoring, jumpers and crashing the glass hard on both ends, the Lakers began to re-establish a cushion on the scoreboard. Then, in the final minutes of the frame, Clerke knocked down a catch-and-shoot three to inflate the Lakers’ lead up to 13 by the end of the third.
Through gritty inside scoring and tough close-outs on defence, the Pacers began the fourth on a 10-5 run, cutting into the deficit and breathing life into the Pacific Christian bench. As time waned, the Pacers continued to chip into the deficit, making it a five-point game in the final minutes. However, Lewis took over down the stretch for the Lakers. The towering centre received a pass beyond the three-point line and proceeded to pump-fake for the defender to bite before stepping in for a nothing-but-net jumper with two minutes to go. He followed with a pair of free throws a minute later to stretch the lead to seven. Then, a subsequent steal, drive and and-one from senior guard Evan Cunningham in the final minute sealed the deal for the Lakers, as they walked away with an 82-72 win.
“We knew that [the Pacers] would never quit”, reflected Lakers coach Garvie. “We just had to play hard the whole time. We were calm when we had to be calm, and we were frantic when we had to be frantic. They handled the pressure very well.”
With the win, the 11th-seed Kalamalka Lakers advance and will face the winner between the Southridge Storm and the Summerland Rockets, scheduled for 8:45 p.m. PT on March 5 at the Langley Event Centre’s South Court.
NO. 7 LANGLEY CHRISTIAN 73 NO. 10 ST. MICHAEL’S UNIVERSITY SCHOOL 53
By IAN FRENCH (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY — As the saying goes, lightning doesn’t strike twice –well, unless it’s from Langley Christian, as they struck in the third and fourth quarters. Coming into this one, the tall, deep athletic lineup of the seventh-seeded Langley Christian Lightning faced off against the St. Michaels University School Blue Jags, who boasted a crafty, small-ball lineup. It was a game of differing basketball eras, and after a surging second half, the Lightning showed old school is nothing to scoff at as they earned a 73-53 comeback win.
Sophomore guard Alex Mackay led all Blue Jags scorers with 18 points, 12 of which came from beyond the arc. While for the Lightning, junior forward Tyse Wagenaar led the offensive charge, scoring 17 of his game-high 26 points in the second half to will his side to victory.
“I just tell the guys, stick to the game plan, we understood that, at some point, with our intensity, with our length, with our athleticism, other teams break”, began Lightning head coach Brodan Thiel. “We just trust the inside touches and trust that Tyse [Wagenaar] is going to go off, and he did, amazing job from him.”
The battle began immediately, with both sides guarding the other aggressively from the jump. The length of Langley Christians’ senior centre Jarom Smith created space for a wide-open chance to open the scoring, and the inside looks kept falling for the Lightning as they scored 14 of their team’s 15 first-quarter points inside the paint. However, as time went on, the Blue Jags began to pounce. Sophomore guard Manev Kang knocked down a catch-and-shoot three, then followed on the next possession with a fading jumper over a long defender by the elbow. Over the next few chances on offence, the Blue Jags continued to heat up as senior guard Dani Pelyhe and Mackay combined for a trio of triples to take the lead by the end of one, 21-15.
Both teams wasted little time getting into the action to start the second. Lightning’s senior forward Ike Hogewoning started the quarter off with a spin in the post and finished through contact for the score. Shortly after, senior guard Judah Lindberg pulled up from three for Langley Christian, hitting the team’s first jumper of the game while cutting the deficit to one. As the clock ticked down, defence took over, leading to turnovers and blocks galore. But by the midway mark, and with a seven-point advantage, the Blue Jags found their scoring touch once more. Mackay knocked down another triple from the wing, then followed a couple of plays later with another three from a similar spot; this time, he drew contact. As Mackay fell to the floor, the rest of the gym kept their eyes on the ball, watching it careen through the air before dropping through the net, earning an and-one opportunity. He drained it to complete the four-point play while establishing a 10-point lead. The Lightning managed to tack on a couple more but went into the break behind 38-28.
Lindberg kicked off the third with a tough bucket through contact, then followed with a three-pointer to singlehandedly cut the lead to five. From here, momentum began to swing. Langley Christian clearly made adjustments during the break as they swarmed any Blue Jag with the ball on the perimeter. This was highlighted when Wagenaar came flying out of nowhere to swat a corner three that energized his bench and resulted in a score on the other end to make it a one-possession game. Through a combo of tough perimeter defence and vicious offensive rebounding, the Lightning struck for an 11-0 run to start. The Blue Jags fought back, slowly chipping away at the deficit over the next few minutes and even took the lead when Pelyhe blew by a defender on his way to the rim before using an up-and-under off the glass for the score. However, the Lightning weren’t phased. They tacked on a couple more, and Lindberg capped off an 8-0 run with a three-pointer, ending the third up 51-44.
The Lightning’s third-quarter gameplan carried over into the fourth. From turning hard-nosed defence into offence, they were able to open on an 8-2 run. This is when Wagenaar took over. He began by rising up for an emphatic two-handed slam on one end and, as the Lightning fans were still cheering, he rose again and delivered with a massive swat on defence. A couple of plays later, Wagenaar caught a pass at the top of the three-point line with a defender close up. After holding it for a moment, he briefly looked at the rim before pulling up for a quick three-pointer. Then followed on the subsequent possession with another one, this time, a heat check from way downtown to establish a 16-point lead. From there, the Lightning held strong, finishing with a 73-53 win.
“When you’re the leader, and a guy who’s basically been captain since grade 10 – he’s now in Grade 11, averaging 25 points and 13 rebounds a game, he comes out and has a monster performance”, mused Lightning coach Thiel. “Everyone feeds off of him, so it’s just great to see.”
With the win, seventh-seeded Langley Christian Lightning will advance to Day 2, where they’ll face the winner between the Collingwood Cavaliers and the Nechako Valley Vikings. Tipoff for quarterfinal action is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. PT on March 5 at the Langley Event Centre’s South Court.
NO. 2 COLLINGWOOD 87 NO. 15 NECHAKO VALLEY 57
By IAN FRENCH (Special for Varsity Letters)
The final game of opening day action of the B.C. senior boys Double-A provincial championship was a battle of the warriors. As their team names suggest, the 15th-seed Nechako Valley Vikings faced off against the second-ranked Collingwood Cavaliers, and both sides fought hard until the final buzzer. However, through consistent ball movement, outside shooting and dominance on the glass, the Cavaliers pulled away with an early lead and didn’t look back, walking away with a decisive 87-57 win.
Nechako Valley junior guard Brody Black scored a game-high 15 points, nine of which came from beyond the arc in the second half. While senior guard Elliot McNeil led the offensive charge for the Cavaliers, dictating the pace throughout and ending the day tied for a team-high of 14 points. Alongside his countless assists and intensity on defence, he earned player of the game honours for Collingwood.
“He’s such a good, true point guard. He has such poise on the court”, reflected Cavaliers head coach Andy Wong on McNeil’s game. “You could trust him defensively, but on offence, he gets us into our sets. He gets us into our rhythm. You know exactly what you’re getting out of him every game; he gives us calm on the court when we need it.”
Collingwood came out swinging, and Nechako Valley was right there to respond to start the first. A few minutes in, senior Cavaliers guard Harry Bell knocked down a triple for a five-point lead, but Nechako Valley quickly responded on the other end with two points of their own to keep it within one possession. Throughout the frame, Collingwood slowly turned the back-and-forth into a one-sided affair. They were consistently dealing, using sound ball movement to create open lanes to the basket; the Cavaliers converted the majority of their 25 first-quarter points from inside the paint or from the foul line. But none of this came easy, as the Vikings closed out hard while finding the open man on offence to limit the damage, but by the end of one, the Cavaliers held a 25-12 lead.
Coming out of the second quarter, Nechako Valley used some timely cuts to get to the basket for an easy score to start, but Collingwood pressed on. They continued to find their way inside and mixed in a healthy mix of jump shots as they built up an 18-point lead by the midway point of the frame. Shortly after, Vikings senior forward Dayne Mueller looked to respond, as he drained a no-hesitation catch-and-shoot three on the wing. Yet momentum from that was short-lived as junior Cavaliers guard Lucas Di Marco connected on a corner three in the final minutes of the half to inflate their lead, holding a 46-25 advantage.
Coming out of the break, the three-pointers continued to fall. Senior Cavaliers forward wasted no time by draining a wide-open three-pointer for some early momentum that bled into the next few minutes. However, Nacheko Valley began to heat up as Black was moving along the arc, with a defender near, and quickly pulled up and knocked down the three. Then, on the next possession, Mueller followed suit with a triple of his own to cap off the 8-0 run.
But as the Cavaliers had done all night, they remained composed and handled business. Utilizing the glass to generate offence, they soared through the remainder of the frame with a sizable advantage and carried that into the fourth. Nechako Valley’s energy and effort never wavered, battling every minute the rest of the way, but couldn’t overcome the towering deficit, falling 87-57.
“We wanted to play at a high pace, to move the game 94 feet,” added Cavaliers coach Wong. “Honestly, the strength of our team is our team play. We just pass it, pass it, pass it. We’re really unselfish, and that’s what we’re known for.”
The second-ranked Collingwood Cavaliers now advance to Day 2, where they’ll face off against the seventh-ranked Langley Christian Lightning in quarterfinal action. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. PT on March 5 at the Langley Event Centre’s South Court.
If you’re reading this story or viewing these photos on any website other than one belonging to a university athletic department, it has been taken without appropriate permission. In these challenging times, true journalism will survive only through your dedicated support and loyalty. VarsityLetters.ca and all of its exclusive content has been created to serve B.C.’s high school and university sports community with hard work, integrity and respect. Feel free to drop us a line any time at howardtsumura@gmail.com.
