LANGLEY — We’ve gone final from Day 1 of the 2025 B.C. senior boys basketball championships.
Included are eight game stories and photos. We hope you enjoy.
Our thanks go out to out team of writers (Gary Kingston, Dan Kinvig, Ian French, Gary Ahuja) and to our photographers (Gordon Kalisch, Wilson Wong and Ryan Molag)
We will be back tomorrow with reports and phots from the quarterfinals.
I thank you once again for your patience and for being a loyal follower right here at VarsityLetters.ca
Howard Tsumura
B.C. SENIOR BOYS
79TH B.C. CHAMPIONSHIPS
LANGLEY EVENTS CENTRE
SOUTH COURT, CENTRE COURT, ARENA BOWL, FIELD HOUSE
QUAD-A
DAY 1
SWEET 16 ROUND
TOP HALF DRAW
QUADRANT A
NO. 2 DOVER BAY 95 NO. 15 PRINCE GEORGE 62
By GARY KINGSTON (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – The B.C. senior boys basketball tournament has never been about equitableness or meritocracy.
It’s about inclusiveness, the populist idea that all areas of the province must be represented.
It’s why the Prince George Polars barely troubled the 4A No. 2 seeded Dover Bay Dolphins of Nanaimo in the highest tier opener on Wednesday morning. And it’s why the Mount Baker Wild of Cranbrook were likely to get steamrolled later in the day by No. 1-seeded Spectrum of Victoria.
It’s also why the Oak Bay Bays, who were top-three ranked all season with Dover Bay and Spectrum – a troika of Vancouver Island powerhouses with a combined 82-1 record against other B.C. teams this season – are sitting at home this week, rueing their fate despite a second-place finish at the 4A Island zone championships.
The zone can only have two representatives at provincials, but because third-place Dover Bay, which lost in a semifinal to Spectrum, did not meet Oak Bay in the zone tournament, they were allowed by rule to challenge the Bays in a single-game play-in for a spot at the Langley Events Centre.
The Dolphins won that one 90-80 in a packed gym at Oak Bay last Thursday. Now Dover Bay, having moved up a tier to 4A this season because of student numbers, is determined to ride that second-chance good fortune to a second consecutive title after capturing the 3A crown last season.
“It was a lot of pressure, but at the same time we had nothing to lose,” Grade 12 guard Evan Slater said of the win over Oak Bay. “We were going to win. We worked our butts off to get there.
“It would have been devastating for us (to not make provincials.) This team cares about it so much. And our coaches put so much work in for us. We really wanted that game.”
Now that they’re at provincials, the goal is a 4A banner to go along with the one from last season.
“We feel really confident,” said Slater, who hit a trio of three-pointers in the 95-62 win over Prince George in a nearly empty Arena Bowl. “We’ve put in so much work. We’re just going to play our game.”
That game is built on speed, length, a tenacious work ethic and the singular skills of 6-foot-7 guard/forward Frank Linder, who led the scoring against the Polars with 34 points despite not playing the fourth quarter. The UBC commit seems to score off the fast break and inside with ridiculous ease. He’s also a force on the boards and, with his long arms, is active in the passing lanes defensively.
“He’s got all the intangibles,” said Dover Bay head coach Darren Seaman. “The rebounding, both ends of the floor, the steals.”
Grade 12 centre Hudson Trood had 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter after a dismal first three quarters from the field.
Hunter Anderson had 21 points for the Polars, who trailed by 37 midway through the fourth quarter.
Despite not officially qualifying until last week, the Dolphins were able to secure the same house they rented for the Tsumura Invitational Tournament at the LEC in November. It’s just a minute from the LEC and sleeps 22, has a hot tub and, with two kitchens, allowing the team to eat healthy home-cooked meals.
“It’s a beautiful house,” said Seaman. “We couldn’t ask for anything more. I was able to put in an (early) request to hold it. I would let them know at the 11th hour. Then I had to message them to say ‘now we’re in a challenge game and it’s not until Thursday. Are you OK to still hold it.’ Soon as that game was over, I messaged them to say ‘OK, we’re coming.’
“It was like coming home (when they arrived.) We opened the door and the kids go back to their old bedrooms.”
Seaman admits his team is “very fortunate” and grateful to beat the Bays in the win-or-stay-home game.
“Quite a story, right? The three teams on the island battling out for two spots and then we win the challenge game to get here.”
Can they win a second consecutive B.C. title, this time at 4A?
“We don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves,” said Seaman. “Right now, we’re just staying in the moment, one game at a time. But these guys have got the experience . . . for some of them, it’s the third year in a row. They’re pretty calm and cool.”
NO. 7 HOLY CROSS 84 NO. 10 YALE 67
By GARY KINGSTON (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – In the spacious, unfamiliar surroundings of the Arena Bowl at the Langley Events Centre and with several Grade 11s without B.C. championship experience playing key roles, Holy Cross Crusaders head coach Anthony Pezzente knew his squad might be slow out of the gate on Wednesday.
So it was hardly surprising that the 4A No. 7 seed Crusaders struggled from the floor at times and led by just two, 38-36 over the No. 10 seed Lions in a tight round of 16 matchup.
“We settled down a little bit (after halftime),” said Pezzente, whose squad rolled to an eventual 84-67 triumph. “We are really Grade 11 heavy, so some of the nerves were there.
“But we took care of the basketball better (in the second half) and executed a little better on the offensive end. It’s funny what happens when you take care of the basketball – the execution level improves.”
After the score was tied at 47 midway through the fourth quarter, the Crusaders went on a 10-2 run to seize control.
The offence was keyed by one of those afore-mentioned Grade 11s, guard Marko Juan, who hit a pair of three-pointers and made a dynamic burst through the paint to convert on a layup. Fellow Grade 11 guard, Okezi Urefe, made the other basket in the run, battling hard under the basket to convert on a second offensive rebound put back. The tenacious work on the glass had the Crusaders’ bench up on their feet and players on the court rushing to help their fallen teammate up off the floor.
Orefe finished with a team-high 23 points, while Juan added 22, including four three-pointers, the last of which put Holy Cross up by 17 with just three minutes remaining.
“I played varsity last year as a Grade 10 and I think that helped me,” said Juan. “It prepared me to be a leader on this team.
“And in practice we do scenarios about executing to finish the game.”
Pezzente said he can see Juan’s confidence growing as the season has progressed.
“It’s more the last month or so that he’s started to come into his own.”
Stocky 6-foot-5 Yale guard/forward Taige Roberts had 25 for the Lions. But just three came in the fourth quarter as the Crusaders tightened up defensively.
“Taige is an incredible basketball player,” Pezzente said of the Lions’ Grade 11 star. “He’s s a really tough guard. But we knew if we could key on him we’d have some success and we did. Our guys did a great job of executing our defensive game plan. They worked their asses off to body a big boy like that.”
The Crusaders now advance to face the No. 2 seed Dover Bay Dolphins in a quarterfinal game on Thursday.
“Dover’s going to be a big challenge,” said Pezzente. “They are phenomenal. But our guys are scrappy and they’ll work hard. Anything can happen.”
QUADRANT B
NO. 3 VANCOUVER COLLEGE 80 NO. 13 CENTENNIAL 65
By GARY KINGSTON (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – A corner three at the ten-second mark, another to beat the first quarter buzzer and 24 points off treys by early in the second quarter.
Oh yeah, the Vancouver College Fighting Irish senior boys basketball team can bomb away with the best of them.
But as an 80-65 win over the Centennial Centaurs on Wednesday on the opening day of the 4A B.C. championships showed, these leprechauns of the hardcourt have got more to their game than a propensity to shoot. And shoot. And shoot.
The No. 3-seeded Irish lack any kind of real low-post presence and are likely to get outrebounded most games. But the elfish lineup – at least compared to other teams – battle relentlessly and are quick and fearless to the basket.
They had only three treys in the final 28 minutes and scored eight of their last nine points from no more than two feet from the basket.
“We shoot the three in bunches a little bit,” said Irish head coach Ryan Shams. “We’ve had games where we’ve hit 20-plus threes this season, but we know we can score in different ways. We can get you with whatever.”
With only two guys taller than 6-foot-2, including substitute Gianluca Tognetti, the Irish aren’t long limbed but they play with cohesion and a share-the-ball mentality that saw six players hit the scoresheet in support of 36 points from dead-eye shooter Andres Garcia.
“We’re not the biggest team height-wise, but we’ve got guys like Tognetti and 6-foot-5 Grade 11 starter (Ashton) Wong that can catch the ball at the rim and get inside as we saw later in the game,” said Shams.
“That’s what makes us pretty hard to guard because we’ve got six or seven guys that can score.”
Garcia had five of the team’s 11 treys and also added six assists in an efficient offensive performance. But the six-foot Grade 12 was more interested in talking about how the defence tightened in the second half and particularly the fourth quarter when the Centaurs were held to just 11 points.
“We really stepped it up on defence, made them have to make tough decisions,” said Garcia. “We picked up the pressure and that really worked to help us pull away.”
Garcia converted a three-point play off a drive to the basket to open the fourth quarter and followed that up with an offensive rebound tip-in to push the Irish lead to 68-54.
“Obviously, we were hitting (from long range) early, but they adjusted to that,” said Garcia. “They ran us off the (three-point) line, so we attacked on the inside.”
Six-foot-seven Centennial forward Alex Birsan was almost a one-man show for the Centaurs, handling the ball with aplomb and scoring a game-high 33 points.
“Alex is a hell of a player,” said Shams. “I actually coached him on a provincial team a couple of summers ago. We knew what we were getting into with him.”
The Irish are looking for their first B.C. senior boys title since 1967. To do that, they’ll eventually have to go through Dover Bay and Spectrum, the No. 2 and No. 1 seeds from Vancouver Island.
“We’ve kind of been that 3 or 4 team behind the Island teams all year,” said Shams. “We’re 0-5 against them, but we took Oak Bay (who were denied a spot at provincials by Dover Bay in a challenge game) to overtime and we played Spectrum pretty tough. But it’s provincials and you get to the Final Four and anything can happen. We can get hot, they can get cold. Anything can happen.”
NO. 6 TERRY FOX 86 NO. 11 SEMIAHMOO 84
LANGLEY – The young Terry Fox Ravens grew up in a big hurry on Wednesday.
With a lineup that features Grade 10s Marvin Reyes and Jayson Ikani in key roles, the 4A No. 6 seed Ravens battled back from a nine-point halftime deficit to the upset-minded No. 11 seed Semiahmoo Thunderbirds to barely win their tournament opener 86-84.
Head coach Rich Chambers, who guided the nucleus of the team to a junior boys title last season, says it had been a bit of a roller-coaster regular season. Like a box of chocolates, he’d never know what he was going to get when he put a lineup out on the floor.
They could lose to Vancouver College by 50 points early in the campaign, only to go to overtime and a six-point loss in a third meeting.
On Wednesday, the defence was sieve-like early, giving up 55 first-quarter points. But they held the Totems to just 29 in the second half, while slowly whittling away at the deficit until finally taking the lead on a pair of Reyes’ free-throws with 30.1 seconds remaining.
The defence then forced a turnover by tying up Totems’ guard/forward Dimitri Pomonis with 14 seconds to go. Reyes hit another free throw to push the lead to 86-84 and when Arjun Dulay’s desperation three-point attempt clanged off the rim at the buzzer, the Ravens were on their way to the quarterfinals.
“Oh my goodness,” said Chambers of watching his fuzzy-cheeked squad pull out the victory in nail-biting fashion.
“It’s been like that the whole season. We were up and down all over the place. I never know what it’s going to look like, ever.”
“Two thirds of the year, we got out-physicaled. The last third of the year, not so much. We’ve kind of lifted our level of physicality.”
All of that was exemplified late by the way the 6-foot-4 Ikani attacked the basket. With bodies hitting the hardwood with regularity at both ends, he muscled inside for a pair of layups in the last three minutes and scored two more points from the free throw line after being fouled on a tough move to the hoop.
“(The referees) allowed it to be such a physical game, both ways,” said Chambers. “It wasn’t to anybody’s advantage. They were consistent the whole game, the referees.”
Ikani was the Ravens leading scorer with a team-high 26 points, including going four-for-four from the charity stripe in the crucial last quarter. while Reyes added 25, with 12 points coming off made three-pointers.
Ikani shook off any suggestion he and other Grade 10s on the roster might struggle in the opener, especially with it being played in the 6,000-seat Arena Bowl.
“We’re a young team, but it’s the senior level, so we’ve got to play like seniors.”
Defensively, the Ravens tightened up in the second half by putting more pressure on the ball and allowing fewer second chance opportunities.
Six-foot-five forward Jack Snead led the Thunderbirds with 32 points.
BOTTOM HALF DRAW
QUADRANT C
NO. 5 ST. GEORGE’S 81, NO. 12 LORD TWEEDSMUIR 66
BY DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)
The St. George’s Saints hauled some heavy baggage into their first-round match-up with the Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers, and in the early going on Wednesday afternoon, it appeared to be more than they could carry.
Each of the previous two seasons, the Saints had suffered heartbreaking losses in their opener at 4A provincials. In 2023, they were upset victims as the No. 4 seed, falling 67-63 to the No. 13 Elgin Park Orcas. In 2024, as the No. 9 seed, they let the No. 8 Yale Lions score the last four points of the game in a bitter 100-97 defeat.
Wednesday’s contest looked to be more of the same, as the Surrey-based Panthers – the clear underdog as a double-digit seed – came out on fire and built a 27-8 lead.
The Saints, though, responded with a remarkable stretch of defensive basketball, limiting Tweedsmuir to a single point over eight-plus minutes of game action. The defensive effort sparked the offence – St. George’s reeled off 25 points during that stretch, and by the time the final buzzer sounded, the early deficit was a distant memory. The Saints were off to the quarter-finals by a decisive 81-66 count.
Saints senior Dorian Glogovac, who scored a game-high 37 points in that loss to Yale last year, outdid himself with 43 points vs. Tweedsmuir, ensuring there was no déjà vu this time around.
“We remember the pain that was in the locker room last year – there were tears,” Glogovac recounted afterward. “That gives you a little bit more motivation.
“We were dealing with some nerves at the beginning, but at the end of the day, we knew what our abilities are. We just had to continue believing in ourselves and staying confident. Once we saw the ball go in the hoop a few times, we just got momentum.”
It was all Panthers in the first quarter – they scored 19 consecutive points at one juncture, turning an early 8-8 tie into a 27-8 edge. Senior guard Apollo Greenlay was instrumental, racking up 12 points in the frame.
Glogovac ignited the comeback, draining back-to-back triples to close the first quarter, and he racked up 13 in the second as St. George’s fully erased the deficit and took a 38-32 advantage into halftime.
“One of the things we preach all the time is to play with joy and have fun,” Saints head coach Guy da Silva said, reflecting on his messages to his team in an early timeout and at the first quarter break. “We get to play this game, we’re so blessed to be part of a great program and get to play these high-profile games. We want to enjoy those moments, and play loose and play free. That’s when we’re at our best.
“I also said, ‘Hey fellas, we’re a great defensive team. I know it doesn’t look like it right now, but we’ve just got to lock in.’ The goal was just to get it tied at half.”
The Panthers had one last push in them, and were able to get back within 50-48 after an 8-0 surge late in the third. But with Glogovac and Grade 10 guard Willem Urban leading the way offensively, St. George’s was able to extend the lead back into double digits and were never seriously threatened down the stretch of the fourth.
Leading up to this game, da Silva tried to steer clear of talking about the previous years’ disappointments.
“I didn’t want them thinking about last year – every year is a new year,” he explained. “But we talked about culture, we talked about the guys who have come before us in our program. I talked about their values for the season, the values they set – toughness, hard work, and selflessness. Whether you’re making shots or missing shots, your values matter – they stay the same. Lean into those values, play as hard as you can, and then things will kind of take care of themselves.
“I didn’t want to put any pressure on them. But they’re around school, they’re feeling it, and we talked about it in practice. They’re kids at the end of the day.
“We turned it around with defence . . . we really dug in. We switched to our zone a little bit, and that got us going. And then we came back to our man (defence), and I think we just settled in. We did a really good job with the ball pressure, and those turnovers allowed us to get some buckets, because we were struggling to score.”
Urban scored nine of his 13 points in the fourth quarter, and Aryan Sablok also notched double digits for Saints with 10 points.
Greenlay’s 20 points were highlighted by four three-pointers, and Maahir Julia (13 points), Tript Sooch (12) and Joven Sihota (10) also chipped in offensively for Tweedsmuir.
NO. 13 ABBY SENIOR 82, NO. 4 TAMANAWIS 77
BY DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY — It’s almost cliché to invoke Steph Curry’s name after the type of hot-shooting performance Parnaam Sidhu had on Wednesday evening.
But the comparison absolutely tracks. Just ask the Tamanawis Wildcats.
From his wispy build to his incredible production from the far side of the three-point line, Sidhu was cooking like Curry in opening round of the provincial 4A championship. The Abbotsford Senior Panthers’ 5’11” senior guard threatened the tournament single-game record with 11 treys on his way to a 41-point outing, singlehandedly accounting for precisely half of his No. 13-seeded team’s total output in a stunning 82-77 upset win over No. 4 Tamanawis.
“Every game we go into, we think we can win,” Sidhu asserted afterward.
“I had to put the team on my back and do what I do . . . Coach told me if I get a little bit of room, shoot it.
“Against a 2-3 (zone defence), I pretty much get open shots. If I have a little bit of room, I’m shooting that thing.”
That he did.
Tamanawis led by as many as seven points in the second quarter, but the undersized Panthers, playing an entertaining brand of basketball, hung in and battled back to knot the score 41-41 headed into halftime. Abby Senior played a 1-2-2 zone press before falling back into a trapping 3-2 zone, and the high-risk, high-reward defensive combination proved efficient at generating turnovers.
Sidhu played well in the first half, counting five three-pointers among his 21 points, but it wasn’t until the third quarter that he truly accessed the nuclear codes. He knocked down five triples in the third quarter alone, racking up 17 points in the frame as Abby built an eight-point lead heading to the fourth (68-60).
The Wildcats finally managed to quiet Sidhu in the final frame, limiting him a just a single trey, and were able to get back to within 78-75 with under a minute left in regulation. Senior guard Sunny Dhami had a shot to tie it, but his triple rattled around every part of the rim and off the backboard before falling out with 30 seconds left.
Abby’s Ishaan Dhaliwal hit a pair of free throws to make it a two-possession game, and after Tammy’s Anand Sandhu responded with an end-to-end drive to the rim, the Panthers’ Tony Dabi rounded out the scoring with a layup of his own.
“We told the guys on Sunday after the seeding show that everyone was going to think we’re underdogs,” Panthers coach Kyle Claggett said. “But we knew we had a chance to pull off the upset. We just told our guys, ‘You’ve got to play like a bunch of dogs.’
“We knew if we scored above 75, we haven’t really lost a game this year. So we said we’ve got to fly, shoot a lot of threes . . . just run and gun, run and gun. That was also one of our best rebounding games – we had 20 o-boards. We stuck to our game plan the whole time.”
Sidhu will find his name printed in next year’s tournament program, under “Most 3-Point Field Goals in a Game.”
Tamanawis alums, ironically, top the list. Miguel Tomley drained 15 treys in the 4A bronze medal game back in 2018, part of a memorable 66-point outburst. Two years later, Tammy’s Arbin Dhillon had a 12-triple performance.
Sidhu’s 11 treys tie him for third-most all-time with Chris Pershick of North Delta (1992) and Nathan Vogstad of Queen Charlotte (2014).
“Parnaam, I’ve been coaching him since Grade 7 and he’s been one of the best shooters since that age,” Claggett said. “One of the most undersized guys, but any college coach watching this tournament should keep an eye on that kid. He’s the best shooter in the province, by far.”
Abhay Badhesha (12 points), Dhaliwal (11) and Dabi (10) also scored in double figures for the Panthers.
Grade 11 forward Victor Cortel paced the Wildcats with 26 points, and Sandhu (17 points), Dhami (15) and Luka Guzina (14) chipped in offensively as well.
QUADRANT D
NO. 8 MOUNT BOUCHERIE 95, NO. 9 HERITAGE WOODS 85
BY DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY — A win at provincials, for any program on any day at any tier, is a big deal.
But sometimes, it means even more.
Such was the case on Wednesday evening, as the Mount Boucherie Bears of West Kelowna clawed out a 95-85 triumph over the Heritage Woods Kodiaks of Port Moody.
“The last time our school was at (senior boys) provincials was 1984, I think they were double A at the time,” Bears head coach Kelly Broderick said with a smile.
“It’s not just about this team, it’s our whole community, including the school and our past alumni guys. We’ve tried for 20 years to come to this tournament, and we’ve had a lot of teams ranked over those years, but it’s been this battle . . . and this was our first real moment to do it.
“I’ve never, ever had so much love from our past players, our past administrators and superintendents. This is not just these 12 guys in this room. This is so much bigger than that. We’re feeling that, and it’s pretty special.”
The only thing sweeter than earning a long-awaited provincial berth is following it up with an opening-round victory, and the Bears had to earn everything they got in this all-bear-mascot brawl.
For the better part of three quarters, Mount Boucherie only held the lead briefly (at 17-16 late in the first quarter). The Kodiaks otherwise had the advantage, leading by as many as 11, as their full-court man-to-man pressure left the Bears discombobulated.
The Bears finally found their footing late in the third quarter, ending the frame on a 13-1 surge to claim their first lead since the early going. Senior big man Bennett Messer, after being limited to six points in the first half, shook loose for 12 in the third, including a pair of and-one buckets in the paint. That created space for Noah Watters to operate on the perimeter, and the Grade 11 guard knocked down a pair of triples among his 12 points in the frame.
Watters continued to cook in the fourth, pouring in another dozen points on his way to a game-high 42-point effort. Remarkably, it was the third consecutive game in the 4A draw to feature a 40-plus point outing, following St. George’s Dorian Glogovac (43 points in a win over Lord Tweedsmuir) and Abby Senior’s Parnaam Sidhu (41 points in a victory over Tamanawis).
The Bears stretched their lead as high as 12 in the fourth quarter after a Watters trey – his sixth of the game – and he celebrated by waving his hands palms-down as if to say ‘It’s over.’
He wasn’t wrong – though the Kodiaks were able to close to within 87-80 after Owen Maloney’s steal and layup with 1:37 left, Messer punctuated the win with his third dunk of the contest as Mount Boucherie kept the game just out of reach in the final minute.
“It felt like we were in between 100 moments at all times,” Broderick analyzed. “But we’re built on resiliency – this whole season has been like that. We’ve been the underdog, but we just won’t quit. I love these guys . . . even when it’s rough and it’s not flowing properly, they just believe in each other. It’s just so fun to be around them. I’ll go to battle with them any day.
“We expected their pressure – Heritage Woods doesn’t have a ton of size, but they have a ton of grit. They use their speed and they use what they have. It took us a while to get it to our big, and really find him the right spacing. Our guards were pressured so much, the flow was just off.
“Once we settled into our spots and got into our sets and just relied on what we do, it started to slowly unwind.”
Messer finished with 22 points and picked up player of the game honours, and Sahayven Sehra posted 15 points for the Bears.
The Kodiaks were paced by backcourt standouts Maloney and Dylan Wallace, who registered 23 and 17 points, respectively. Vuk Lekovic (14 points) and Caleb Park (10) also hit double digits in defeat.
There’s been a lot of talk this year about provincial tournament berth allocation, with the flashpoint being Oak Bay – a top-three fixture in the provincial rankings – staying home this week after fellow highly ranked programs Spectrum and Dover Bay scooped Vancouver Island’s two berths.
Well, don’t come crying to Broderick about that.
“My whole 20 years at this school, we’ve only had one berth from the Okanagan,” he noted. “In those 20 years, Kelly Olynyk went through (with South Kamloops in 2009), and we lost to them in the (zone) finals. We’re ranked fourth in the province, and we don’t go (to provincials).
“I know people are talking about it now because of Oak Bay and the Island thing, and we beat Kelowna (75-72 in the Okanagan finals) and now they don’t go, and how come we don’t have more berths? I’ve been dealing with this for 20 years.
“We earned this sh– right now. I’m so happy for them.”
NO. 1 SPECTRUM 80, NO. 16 MT. BAKER 46
BY DAN KINVIG (Special for Varsity Letters)
The last time the Spectrum Thunder played on the arena bowl hardwood at the Langley Events Centre, the atmosphere couldn’t have been any more electric.
Playing before a sold-out, standing-room-only crowd on March 9, 2024, the Thunder topped the Semiahmoo Totems 92-72 to claim the school’s first B.C. 4A crown.
The vibe on Wednesday as they made their triumphant return to the arena bowl? Somewhat different.
At the bitter end of a grueling first day at 4A provincials, only the sickest of basketball junkies remained seated in the stands as the clock ticked towards 10:00 p.m.
Playing before a sea of blue seats – and a small smattering of spectators – Spectrum did exactly what a defending champion No. 1 seed is expected to do vs. a No. 16, easing past the Mount Baker Wild by an 80-46 count.
Mark our words, the crowds will grow with each passing day as the stakes increase. Wednesday’s low-hype opener was what the Thunder hope will be just the first step on the road to a repeat.
“Very different, but we knew what it was going to be like coming in,” Spectrum head coach Tyler Verde said with a smile. “Our whole theme, since we won Islands, has been ‘Four games.’ Doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we’re going to treat it like a provincial final. That was the last time we played here, and we want to treat every game like that because we want to do it again.”
The Thunder opened the game on an 8-0 surge, and added three double-digit scoring runs (12-0, 12-0, and 13-0) before the first half was up.
The score was 58-18 at that point, and Spectrum’s starters – including the UVic-bound duo of Tyler Felt and Justin Hinrichson – were stapled to the bench for the entirety of the second half.
Eleven players hit the scoresheet for the Thunder, with Hinrichson (14 points), Felt (13) and Harkaran Dhah (12) leading the way. Senior forward Gunnar Barlee, much to his teammates’ delight, picked up player of the game honours after registering seven points.
Senior guard Imman Vito paced the Wild with 12 points, highlighted by a trio of three-pointers. Detroit Canuel (eight points) and Kieran Shankowsky (seven points) also contributed offensively.
“Get an early lead, show why we’re No. 1, play good defence, not get hurt, and get ready for tomorrow – that was our goal,” Verde summarized.
“We came out and ran some different stuff, tried some different presses, just to see how the guys would respond to it, and they obviously responded well.
“And then, we have a lot of seniors and a lot of guys. For them to get a lot of time in the game, that was what we’re here for. Seeing them cheering for Gunnar winning player of the game, that was awesome. That’s why we do it.”
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