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
SINGLE-A
DAY 1
SWEET 16 ROUND
TOP HALF DRAW
QUADRANT A
NO. 2 GIDGALANG KUUYAS NAAY 79 NO. 15 ST. ANN’S ACADEMY 65
By GARY AHUJA (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – The Gidgalang Kuuyas Naay Breakers raced out to the early lead and maintained a double-digit lead throughout, opening the 1A tournament with a 79-65 win.
Seeded second, the silver-medallists from 2024 held off the No. 15 seed, St. Ann’s Academy Crusaders to advance to the quarter-final round.
The Breakers offence – aided by three triples in the first 10 minutes – led 24-9 after a quarter and were up 18 at the half before the upset-minded Crusaders finally got in rhythm in the final frame, scoring 29 points as they tried to chip into the lead. Unfortunately for them, Gidgalang Kuuyas Naay nearly matched them with 26 points of their own, 11 of which came from leading scorer Loay Almahamid. He finished with 17, scoring in only the first and fourth quarters as he battled foul trouble.
The Breakers displayed their depth as five players finished in double digit scoring: Naden Brown-Sjolund (16 points), Logan Jones (15), Calvin Collison (13) and Trace Swain (10).
Grade 11 guard Mauro Lama had 18 in the fourth quarter alone and finished with a game-high 34 for the Crusaders.
No. 7 SPARWOOD 67 No. 10 OSOYOOS 62
By GARY AHUJA (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – Following a first half which featured the score being tied on five separate occasions – and with neither team leading by more than a couple of possessions – the Sparwood Spartans were able to hold off the Osoyoos Rattlers 67-62.
The Rattlers had cut the deficit to a single basket in the fourth quarter and had multiple looks at tying the score on a late possession but could not get the ball to drop with Sentinel able to secure the victory from the free throw line and book a spot in the quarter-final round.
The predominantly Grade 11 Kootenay champions – they have just a pair of Grade 12s on the roster – were led by Grade 11 guard Lukas Pinchak, who scored 23 points, including nine made free throws in the fourth quarter alone. Ethan Doey – another Grade 11 guard – added 18 while Grade 10 centre Dayne Rybachuk finished with 11.
The Rattlers boasted a height advantage with seven players standing over 6’0 and were led by Chris Bojanowki (6’7) and Luke Tarasoff (6’6) as the duo had 29 and 12 points, respectively, in the defeat.
QUADRANT B
No. 6 IMMACULATA 66. No. 11 NANAIMO CHRISTIAN 52
By GARY AHUJA (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – It was the Mateo and Mateo show for the Immaculata Mustangs.
Making their first tournament appearance since 2016, the Thompson-Okanagan champions from Kelowna received 19 points from Mateo Rizzo and another 11 from Mateo Oliveria in a 66-52 win over the Nanaimo Christian Trail Blazers.
Rizzo – a Grade 10 guard who leads the team in scoring with 20 points per game, did the bulk of his damage in the opening quarter as he nailed a trio of shots from beyond the arc and finished with 11 points in those 10 minutes, staking his team to an early 21-14 lead.
And after starting the second with a quick 7-0 run, the Mustangs maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the game. For the Trail Blazers, Grade 10 guard Lendl Barraquaias finished with 21 points while Grade 11 players Dax Martindale and Dylan Legrow chipped in with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
No. 3 UNITY CHRISTIAN 72 No. 14 CEDARS CHRISTIAN 28
By GARY AHUJA (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – It was a decisive opening game for the defending champions from Chilliwack.
The Unity Christian Flames delivered a masterful defensive performance, holding the Cedars Christian Eagles to a mere seven first-half points in a dominant 72-28 win.
As has been the case for much of the season for the Eastern Valley champions, it was the Grade 11 backcourt tandem of Caleb Friesen and Matthias Hulka-Mendoza leading the way with Friesen scoring 19 points – 16 of which came in the first half – while Hulka-Mendoza added 10. Owen Schuurman – another Grade 11 player – came off the bench with 10 points while 6’8 Grade 12 forward Aaron Flokstra scored 14.
For the Eagles, Kaden Paulsen finished with 14 points.
BOTTOM HALF DRAW
QUADRANT C
No. 5 DUNCAN CHRISTIAN 72 No. 12 MEADOWRIDGE 69
By GARY AHUJA (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – With overtime on the horizon, Nick Abi Hanna took matters into his own hands.
Just 2.9 seconds remaining and the score tied at 69, the Duncan Christian Chargers guard took a pass on the wing and cleanly drained the winning basket, earning hero status as his teammates mobbed him following the dramatic conclusion to the contest.
The shot gave the fifth-seed Chargers a 72-69 win over the No. 12 Meadowridge Gryphons.
Grayson Dunn led the Chargers with 23 while Daniel Van Donkersgoed added 18. Andy Xu scored 29 points and Philip Alexandru finished with 27 for Meadowridge.
No. 4 SOUTHPOINTE 71 No. 13 NORTHSIDE CHRISTIAN 44
By GARY AHUJA (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – In their provincial tournament debut, the Southpointe Academy Titans used a strong second half to advance to the championship side of the bracket, defeating the Northside Christian Northstars 71-44.
The North Stars opened the third quarter by cutting the deficit down to single digits, but the Titans went on a 10-2 run to effectively put the game out of reach as they led by as many as 31 points.
The Titans – who entered as the South Fraser champions and the tournament’s No. 4 seed – used a balanced attack with both Devin Khunkhun and Nidhan Brar scoring 14 points and Armaan Kanwal adding a dozen.
Northside Christian’s Graham Yoder led all scorers in the game with 21 points.
QUADRANT D
No. 8 ABERDEEN HALL 101 No. 9 HOUSTON CHRISTIAN 79
By GARY AHUJA (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – Fans in one of the late games were treated to quite the offensive fireworks featuring a combined 180 points with two player – one for each team – netting 89.
On the one side was Houston Christian Wildcats’ Liam Seinen – a 6-foot-7 scoring machine who poured in 37 points. Even more impressive was the fact all but six of those points came in the second half.
The only problem was his counterpart at the other end, 5’9 guard Ciro Bertolutti, who notched an extraordinary 52 points in leading the Aberdeen Hall Gryphons to a 101-79 opening-round win. Bertolutti was much more consistent over the four games, netting 11, 16, 17 and eight in each of those quarters.
No. 1 ST. JOHN’S 94 No. 16 UCLUELET 36
By GARY AHUJA (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – The tournament’s top seed, Vancouver’s St. John’s School Eagles held the Ucluelet Warriors to 12 points over the opening 20 minutes, winning by a final score of 94-36.
The Eagles managed a dozen 3-pointers – those 36 equaling the output of their opponent.
Grade 11 guard Kian Afshar had 22 points while Viv Anderon-Francois – a First Team All-Star in 2024 – had 20. Ucluelet – which has no Grade 12s on their roster – was led by 10 points from forward Clay Chiovitti.
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