LANGLEY TOWNSHIP — Welcome to Day 2 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
BOYS
DOUBLE-A (at Field House)
DAY 1
NO. 4 KING GEORGE 70 NO. 5 SURREY CHRISTIAN 60
By BRAD ZIEMER (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY TOWNSHIP —The game ended with King George coach Darko Kulic doing his primal scream. That scream has became Kulic’s trademark, used to celebrate victories and fire up his team before and during games.
It worked again Thursday as the Dragons took control of a tight game in the second half and beat the Surrey Christian Falcons 70-60 to advance to the semi-finals of the B.C. boys high school Double-A championships at the Langley Events Centre.
“Our coach has been doing that with his teams for 20 years,” said forward Abud Shawwa, who led the Dragons with 23 points and earned player-of-the-game honours. “His energy helps fire us up.”
King George had advanced to the quarters with a convincing 65-38 win over Cariboo Hill of Burnaby, while Surrey Christian knocked off L.V. Rogers 82-76.
The teams were seeded fourth and fifth, so a close game was expected. That’s exactly what we got in a see-saw first half.
On the strength of four three-pointers from four different players, King George built a 21-12 lead through one quarter.
But the Dragons’ shooters went cold in the second quarter and Surrey Christian guard Lleyton Kelly went to work. Kelly scored the final 11 points of the second quarter as the Falcons closed out the first half with a 13-0 run that gave them a 33-28 lead at the break.
King George was not rattled. The Dragons came out in the second half and methodically took control of the game.
“Our intensity, our defence was much better in the second half,” said six-foot-six forward Mihailo Lukic, who added 16 points for the Dragons. “We really focused on getting stops and we really kind of changed our game, trying to attack more of the rim instead of just shooting threes.
“We tried to get more in the paint to try and get some gap-kick, swing movement so we could get easier buckets.”
The Dragons also focused on making it tougher for Kelly and his twin brother and fellow guard, Sidney, get shots.
“We made sure to stop them from driving into the hoop because they were really killing us in the first half,” said Lukic.
The Kelly brothers still got their points. Lleyton had a game-high 33, while Sidney added 12. No one else had more than five points for the Falcons. King George point guard Rei Ikeda added 16 points for the Dragons while quarterbacking the team’s offence.
The Dragons now advance to meet the winner of the Notre Dame-Westsyde quarter-final in Friday’s semi-finals. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:45 p.m.
NO. 1 NOTRE DAME 91 NO. 9 WESTSYDE 82
By BRAD ZIEMER (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY TOWNSHIP — You could say Caleb Parrotta is a full-time quarterback.
In the fall, he throws touchdowns as the Notre Dame Jugglers’ starting QB. Come winter, he directs the offence as point guard for his school’s No.1-ranked hoops team.
The six-foot-two Parrotta was pretty much the difference-maker as the Jugglers advanced to the semi-finals of the B.C. boys high school Double-A championships with a hard-fought 91-82 win over the Westsyde Whundas of Kamloops at the Langley Events Centre.
Parrotta had a game-high 35 points and late in the fourth quarter hit two key back-to-back buckets — a three and a fadeaway jumper — that helped seal the game.
“We always say that Caleb Parrotta is ready for the moment,” said Notre Dame coach Cam Wright. “And in the fourth quarter there, as it came down the stretch, he was ready for the moment. He did a great job tonight.
The Jugglers had advanced to the quarter-finals with a 118-76 win over Fernie, while the Whundas beat Charles Hays 77-54.
The Jugglers led by as many as nine late in the first quarter, but two late baskets by Westsyde cut that lead to 20-15 after one,
A three-point basket by guard Jaren Porter gave Westsyde its first lead, 28-26, midway through the second. With Parrotta doing most of the damage, Notre Dame rallied to take a 46-43 lead at halftime.
After Westsyde had rallied to take a 54-50 lead in the third, the Jugglers went on an 20-3 run and led 70-57 heading into the fourth quarter.
But Westsyde, to its credit, would just not go away. They had cut the Notre Dame lead to just four points, 80-76, when Parrotta struck for those two key buckets.
“We knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Wright said. “Westsyde has such a great basketball program and it was a great game tonight.”
Parrotta acknowledged there are similarities to his jobs on the football field and basketball court.
“There are very many attributes that carry over,” he said. “Playing as a quarterback you’ve kind of got to see the whole field. It’s the same playing point guard and trying to find your teammates.”
Parrotta didn’t carry the entire offensive load for the Jugglers. Fellow guard Conner Mabel scored 24 points and forward Nathan Roye added 23. Jaren Porter had a team-high 24 points for Westsyde.
The Jugglers will meet another Vancouver team, the King George Dragons, in a Friday night semi-final at 8:45 p.m.
NO. 2 COLLINGWOOD 71 NO. 7 LANGLEY CHRISTIAN 55
By BRAD ZIEMER (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY TOWNSHIP — The Collingwood School Cavaliers have pretty much owned the North Shore the past few seasons.
The West Vancouver school has gone 33-0 in league play versus fellow North Shore teams the last five years and 15-0 in the playoffs. Turns out, they’re also pretty good when they Tavel across the Burrard Inlet.
The No. 2-ranked Cavs cruised into the Final Four of the B.C. senior boys Double-A basketball championships with a convincing 71-55 win Thursday night over the Langley Christian Lightning at the Langley Events Centre.
The Cavaliers had advanced to the quarter-finals with an 87-57 over Nechako Valley, while No. 7 seed Langley Christian knocked off St. Michaels University School 73-53 in their quarter-final.
Collingwood got the job done with some tough interior defence. They didn’t allow Langley Christian much under the basket. The Lightning were forced to take jump shots and they didn’t make many.
“We knew who their go-to scorers were,” said Collingwood coach Andy Wong. “We knew they like to play at a slow pace and we wanted to speed things up in transition, use our good team passing and be able to get our quick shots. That kind of defines us.”
The Cavs were great in transition, scoring lots of points on fast breaks after defensive stops and steals. The Cavs scored lots of easy baskets, while Langley Christian had to work for everything it got.
The Cavs led 17-5 after one quarter, 34-19 at the half and were up 57-35 after three quarters.
When the Cavs are at their best, they play with pace and don’t mind making several passes before they shooting the ball.
“We play with a lot of flow,” Wong said. “It’s just beautiful, beautiful passing, and then a lot of confidemce when we are able to get a shot. We have really good shot selection. It’s very unselfish. Whatever is the best shot, we put it up, and that’s just kind of how we define our team. No superstar, just a bunch of really hard-working stars.
Forward Jake McAdam was the Cavs’ player of the game. He was huge at the defensive end, hauled down double-digit rebounds and scored 16 points. Guard Elliot McNeil had a team-high 20 points for the Cavs.
Langley Christian was led by six-foot-five forward Tyse Wagenaar, who scored 20 points.
Collingwood will meet the winner of the Summerland-Kalamalka quarter-final in Friday night’s semi-final. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
NO. 11 KALAMALKA 81 NO. 14 SUMMERLAND 44
By BRAD ZIEMER (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY TOWNSHIP —The Kalamalka Lakers have Okanagan bragging rights. They also have a spot in the Final Four of the B.C. boys high school Double-A basketball championships.
Not bad for the 11th seed in a 16-team tourney.
The Lakers got big games from their big players as they beat the Summerland Rockets 81-44 to advance to the semis.
Centre Tylen Lewis, who stands 6-foot-6, and 6-foot 5 swingman Mason Clarke led the way for the Coldstream team. Both scored 26 points.
“I think our size wore them down,” said Kalamalka coach Glenn Garvie. “Mason and Tylen played really well tonight.”
The Lakers did an effective job of limiting Summerland point guard Mateo Ducheck, who went off for 59 points in Summerland’s 90-70 win over third-seeded Southridge in Wednesday’s opening round.
“The game plan was to have someone on him the whole night,” Garvie said. “And when he did have the ball we would double him and get it out of his hands.That was the philosophy. Don’t let him below the foul line.”
It worked to near perfection as Ducheck was held to just 13 points.
The Lakers, who advanced to the quarters with an 82-72 opening-round win over Pacific Christian of Victoria, didn’t give Summerland many second-chance opportunities.
When the Rockets missed a shot one of Kalamalka’s big men, primarily Lewis, was there to grab the rebound.
Lewis drained a three-pointer at the first-half buzzer to put Kalamalka up 37-31 at the half. Clarke scored nine third-quarter points to give the Lakers a 58-42 lead heading heading into the final quarter. The Lakers finished the third quarter with an 8-0 run and extended that run to 19-0 in the early minutes of the fourth.
“I think we kind of wore them down,” Clarke said. “Obviously, our main concern was Matteo. We had to take him out of the game. I think we did a good job in the second half, not so much in the first half.
“We didn’t shoot particularly well tonight, so we had to get it inside and that’s what ended up working.”
The Lakers are understandably pleased about advancing to the Final Four. Garvie noted that Okanagan teams sometimes get short shrift in the rankings.
“Not intentionally and it’s nothing subversive, but because we’re up there we sort of play each other and don’t get seen as much,” he said.
Clarke and his teammates are on Cloud 9.
“I have been dreaming of this since I was in Grade 10,” he said. “It’s a crazy feeling. I can’t describe it.”
Kalamalka will face the second-seeded Collingwood Cavaliers of West Vancouver in a 7 p.m. semi-final on Friday.
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