Oak Bay's Toren Franklin, pictured here in the semifinals of the Terry Fox Legal Beagle earlier this month in Port Coquitlam, helped lead his Bays to the title at the Vancouver College Emerald tournament on Jan. 25, 2025. (Photo by Howard Tsumura exclusive property of VarsityLetters.ca 2025. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

01.29.25 edition: BC Boys Top 10 hoop ranks: What’s hotter than new Quad-A No. 1 Oak Bay and its star Toren Franklin who scored 42 in Emerald title tilt? And how about those No. 7 Heritage Woods Kodiaks!

LANGLEY — Toren Franklin scorched the goals to the tune of 42 points on Saturday in carrying Victoria’s Oak Bay Bays to 95-89 win over Nanaimo’s Dover Bay Dolphins in the championship final of the Vancouver College Emerald tournament.The win lifted the Bays into the No. 1 spot in the B.C. senior boys high school […]

Argyle's Mariia Mayden (left) is guarded by Claremont's Island Campbell during TBI Super 16 Day 1 action 12.11.24 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Ryan Molag property Langley Events Centre-TFSE 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

01.27.25 edition: B.C. senior girls basketball rankings: It’s a month to the start of the provincials, and No. 1’s and No. 2’s holding ground at all four tiers!

LANGLEY — One month out from the start of the B.C. championships and finding spots in the top four of B.C.’s four senior girls varsity tiers is tough sledding.This week, North Vancouver’s Argyle Pipers move up one spot to No. 3 in Quad-A.Prince George’s College Heights Cougars and the Vernon Panthers each move up a […]

Yale's Besijan Shala (left) protects a rebound against Centennial's Emerson Davis during Day 1 action in the TBI Super 16 bracket Dec. 4, 2024 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura exclusive property of VarsityLetters.ca 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

01.27.25 edition: SRS boys Top 50 sees Spectrum maintain top spot while Heritage Woods’ six-spot jump portents exciting Fraser North 4A title battles to come!

LANGLEY — Victoria’s Spectrum Thunder hold their spot atop the SRS weekly Top 50 for B.C. boys high school basketball.Here are this week’s latest set of numbers, which also see Walnut Grove and Sullivan Heights make Top 50 entries, courtesy of B.C. Basketball Metrics:

Frank Linder scored 39 points to lead Dover Bay past Spectrum in the semifinals the VC Emerald Invitational on Friday. (File photo by Howard Tsumura exclusive property of VarsityLetters.ca 2025. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

No. 2 Dover Bay tops No. 1 Spectrum in Van College Emerald Final 4 as UBC signee Frank Linder scores 39 points, including winning triple! Dolphins face No. 2 Oak Bay in Saturday final!

VANCOUVER — Frank Linder’s game-winning three-pointer with 24 seconds remaining snapped a 79-79 tie and lifted Nanaimo’s No. 2-ranked Dover Bay Dolphins to an 82-79 win over the previously undefeated, reigning B.C. champion Spectrum Thunder of Victoria in the second of two afternoon semifinals at the Vancouver College Emerald tournament on Friday.“Today, Frank really stepped […]

UBC's Fareed Shittu squares up his release against Victoria's Ethan Boag Thursday in the provincial capital. The host Vikes would later take a 90-88 win over the Thunderbirds at the buzzer on a Boag jumper. (Photo by Justin Morash/JustinM Photography courtesy of Victoria Vikes athletics 2025. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

No. 1 Victora 90 No. 2 UBC 88: Buzzer-beating jumper keeps Vikes perfect, falls like a dagger through UBC hearts!

BY HOWARD TSUMURA (VaristyLetters.ca)Regardless of your rooting interest, one thing was clear Thursday night in the provincial capital.The basketball gods give as well as they take.Ethan Boag’s baseline corner jumper from just inside the three-point arc dropped through the irons at Ken and Kathy Shields’ place just as the final buzzer sounded, giving the hometown, […]

Tabir Bhangu (left, 5) and the rest of the Fleetwood Park Dragons vaulted to No. 5 in the latest B.C. Quad-A rankings after topping then-No. 4 Tamanawis in Saturday's RCMP final at the LEC in Langley. (Photo by Howard Tsumura exclusive property of VarsityLetters.ca 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

01.22.25: B.C. senior boys basketball rankings: Fleetwood Park finding hoop paradise! Dragons from unranked to Quad-A No. 5 after RCMP upset of Tammy brings January record to 9-1!

LANGLEY — The Fleetwood Park Dragons are taking a cue from the calendar.Unranked in the Quad-A tier last week, the Dragons finally came through with that so-called signature victory, stopping the then-No. 4-ranked Tamanawis Wildcats 72-65 in the final of the Surrey RCMP Classic on Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.The victory, on the backs […]

King George's Charlie Comrie and Collingwood's Sam Li (2) sandwich Cavaliers' forward Jake McAdam during TBI Select 16 championship final 12.07.24 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Ryan Molag property Langley Events Centre-TFSE 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

01.20.25 edition: SRS boys Top 50 sees Oak Bay Bays take over No. 2! SMUS, King George, Handsworth, MEI make top rises while three other newcomers arrive!

LANGLEY — B.C. Basketball Metrics’ latest SRS Boys Top 50 would have No. 1 Spectrum vs. No. 4 Kelowna, and No. 2 Oak Bay vs. No. 3 Dover Bay if the Final Four was tipping off Jan. 20.(As I add a day after posting, thanks to loyal reader Jack Showers, that of course isn’t possible […]

After sinking the game-winning shot at the buzzer in Simon Fraser's 80-77 win Saturday, Jan. 18 over the visiting, nationally 17th-ranked St. Martin's Saints at the West Gym, Red Leaf's point guard Irish Coquia (3) is swarmed by teammates (left to right) Tobe Ezeokafor, Terique Brown, Luke Howard and Tate Christiansen. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2025. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

A Sunday Read: The 48-hour story of how great shooters learn live with misses to celebrate game-winning makes! SFU’s Irish Coquia does just that with buzzer-beating game-winner over No. 17 St Martin’s!

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — Great shooters never turn down big shots, and in a nutshell, that’s all you need to know about the temperature of the stuff that flows through the veins of Irish Coquia.Two nights after rushing a potential game-winning shot which fell short with a half-second remaining in a 78-76 home floor loss to […]

Always under control, Dover Bay's Frank Linder on his way to tourney MVP honours against the MEI Eagles in 2024 B.C. Triple-A championship final March 9, 2024 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball University Baseball

UBC Thunderbirds men’s basketball lands a prize Class of 2025 recruit! Dover Bay’s 6-foot-7 Frank Linder, reigning BC Triple-A MVP, brings a universal skill set to War Memorial Gym!

VANCOUVER — Start with his agility, length and power.Then consider that it all comes within a 6-foot-7, 195-pound frame.Those who have seen forward/guard Frank Linder grow into his position as one of the top seniors in B.C. high school basketball over the past few seasons with Nanaimo’s Dover Bay Dolphins know all too well that […]

Oak Bay's Tiem Orser (left) is guarded by Dover Bay's Frank Linder during championship game action at the Kodiak Classic Invitational hosted 11.30.24 by Heritage Woods Secondary School in Port Moody. (Photo by Howard Tsumura exclusive property of VarsityLetters.ca 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

01.15.25: B.C. senior boys basketball rankings: Spectrum, St. Pat’s sitting on the pole! Could RCMP, Catholics, Snowball shake it up?

LANGLEY — Only one change atop the four tiers of B.C. boys high school basketball this week, as St. Patricks flip-flops with St. Thomas More at the peak of the Triple-A rankings following the final of the Rich Goutlet Chancellor final Saturday in Burnaby,.Spectrum staved off the same scenario atop 4A, topping No. 3 Oak […]