NO 1. ST. JOHN’S 87 NO. 3 UNITY CHRISTIAN 82
By GARY KINGSTON (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – St. John’s Eagles, the little school that could, finally found its big moment Saturday, slaying the dragon that is boys high school basketball Single A powerhouse Unity Christian for a first-ever B.C. title.
Tucked into Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood, the school that opened in 1986 and didn’t get its own gym until 2011, led 3-0 at the start, then not again until 1:26 remained on the clock en route to a spine-tingling 87-82 win over the Flames.
For the players, it was the endpoint of a short journey of a few years, but for veteran head coach Jonathan Kinman, it was the culmination of a 24-year odyssey to build a program capable of being the one to take possession of the golden basketball at the B.C. championships. And to be ones climbing the ladder after the game to cut the mesh at one of the baskets.
“It just means everything,” said the popular Kinman of winning the title. “It’s 24 years of building this program. I’m so proud of this school for letting me do what I do.”
“This is the culmination of all that work, all those kids, everything they gave to build it to the next step and the next step.”
The emotion of the moment clearly showed on Kinman’s face as he hugged about two dozen ex-players who came down onto the court.
“I’m a wreck. I cried during the national anthem. This is so big.”
St. John’s was led by the all-around brilliance of 6-foot-3 Grade 12 guard Viv Anderson-Francois, who had 29 points, 22 rebounds and nine assists, leaving him just one dime shy of a championship final triple-double.
“It’s the best feeling in the world, the absolute best,” Anderson-Francois said after he took a turn at the traditional cutting down of the net. “It doesn’t feel real yet.
“I’ve been in this tournament two years in a row (prior) to 2025 and it’s just been heartbreak two years in a row. Every single year at our school, the Grade 12s have left on a loss and a heartbreak. This is the first year we haven’t. That means everything.”
The final buzzer sparked a madcap rush to centre court by players, students and alums. After several seconds of joyous whooping and screaming, Anderson-Francois broke out of the mosh pit to sprint to the bench where he wrapped Kinman in a crushing bear hug.
“I wouldn’t be playing basketball without him, I just wouldn’t. I was a tennis player, played a bunch of other sports when I came to this school in Grade 5. And I didn’t take (basketball) seriously until he told me to. So, I have him to thank for it all.”
For his part, Kinman was effusive in his praise for the unquestioned leader of his squad , one which will return two starters next season.
“The bigger the game, the bigger he steps up,” said Kinman. “He’s never afraid of the moment and some college recruiter somewhere is going to get fired if they don’t find him.”
It was Unity’s fifth appearance in five seasons in the final. They won in 2020, 2022 and 2024 and finished second in 2023. The 2021 provincials were wiped out by Covid.
“That’s the greatest program in 1A basketball,” said Kinman of the Flames. “I have so much respect for (head coach) Dave Bron, but our kids were not going to lose this one.”
After pointing to Bron and tapping his heart with a second left in the game, Kinman shared a hug and a few words with the Unity bench boss before the awards ceremony started.
“I told him I love him. The 1A coaching fraternity, we’re all brothers. I told him ‘thank you for making me beat the best team in 1A basketball for the last five years.’ They are a credit to basketball anywhere and that guy (Bron) deserves to be in a Hall of Fame somewhere to do what he’s done over the last five years.”
The Flames will move to 2A next season as B.C. high school basketball brings in some new rules regarding the four Tiers. Rural and semi-rural teams stuck in 4A or 3A because of the size of their student body will be able to move down. Other teams, like Unity, will be moved up based on a formula that takes into account finishes at the previous six provincials.
“Five straight finals is an accomplishment,” said Bron. “And some day – not in the next couple of hours – we can look back at that and it will be pretty special. It’s kind of the end of an era.”
Unity, relying on its big-game experience, led 53-44 at halftime, with the only thing slowing the Flames’ momentum a couple of timely timeouts by Kinman.
After the first timeout early in the first quarter, the Eagles went on an 11-2 run; in the second quarter it was an 8-0 spurt.
“It gives you an opportunity when the kids come to the bench to settle them down and let them know that ‘Hey, they punched you in the mouth, what did you expect?’” said Kinman “‘Go back out and play your game we’ll work our way back into it.’”
After the furious pace of the high-scoring first half, the defences dug in in the third quarter when the teams combined to score just eight points over the first six minutes and 18 overall.
Unity went the first six minutes with just a single free throw made until Shogo Moradeyo on a fast break lay up and a three-pointer by Hulka got the Flames’ offence untracked.
Unity went on a 10-run to close the quarter and take a 64-52 lead into the decisive fourth quarter.
A pair of early three-pointers by Anderson-Francois and another by Rohan Chadha kept the hope factor alive for St. John’s. Then after basically matching basket for basket, they got back-to-back baskets from unheralded substitute Douglas Cassidy with under three minutes remaining to pull within two.
“I was just glad I got my opportunity and was able to help the team win,” said Cassidy. “This is unreal, it’s amazing.”
“He’s a gamer,” Kinman said of Cassidy. “He’s not scared of the moment. Pulled that trigger soon as he got the ball.”
The six points set up Anderson-Francois’ go-ahead basket on a fearless drive through traffic. He also made the and-one to give St. John’s an 81-78 advantage.
A couple of tough misses by Noah Roth and Rio Kingman allowed the Eagles to run it out with five-of-six makes from the free throw line. Rush, a Grade 11, finished with 20 points, while fellow Grade 11, Matthias Hulka had 21 and 6-foot-7 Grade 12 guard Aaron Flokstra finished with 21 and 11 rebounds.
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