The St. Thomas More Knights just wanted to make the B.C. tournament. On Sunday, they added the first-ever Sea-to-Sky zone title to their cache and didn't hold back their joy. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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Ok, so where did these Knights come from? Internal belief in face of mounting losses helped St. Thomas More earn a most unexpected BC AAA berth!

LANGLEY — If you had simply counted up the W’s and the L’s along the will-testing 3-10 stretch which Burnaby’s St. Thomas More Knights navigated over the first six weeks of 2020, you wouldn’t have believed your eyes this past Sunday afternoon at the Langley Events Centre.

Back in December at the Tsumura Basketball Invitational, Karter Fry and Victoria's SMUS Blue Jags gave DJ Laconsay (left), Matt Dunkerley and the rest of Vancouver's Tupper Tigers a solid push before faltering. This week, Vancouver Island MVP Fry and the Jags move into 3A No, 8, not far behind the No. 4-ranked Tigers. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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02.25.20 edition FINAL Varsity Letters B.C. boys high school basketball rankings: In the 11th hour, Oak Bay, STM and SMUS all crash the Top 10 party

Welcome to the final B.C. senior boys basketball rankings of the season.Quad-A and Triple-A rankings will be joined by both Double-A and Single-A by Wednesday evening.BOYSQUAD A (records, rankings reflect games played Feb. 18-25. Records indicate games against B.C. competition only)1 Burnaby South Rebels (31-2) (LW-1)Last week — Won all three games to finish first […]

With the scoreboard perfectly framed to tell the story, St. Patrick's Irish Coquia sinks the biggest shot of his life Tuesday in the B.C. JV final at the LEC. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Picturs 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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Irish eyes were crying, and for good reason! MVP Coquia’s clutch dagger trey lifts St. Pats past Churchill for first-ever B.C. JV hoops crown

LANGLEY — Irish eyes were crying, but if you’d seen just what transpired over the final 20 seconds of play in Tuesday night’s B.C. junior boys basketball championships, you’d understand why.

Abbotsford's Marin Lenz, over the course of her prolific high school career with the Panthers, showed that she could not only perform magic with a basketball, but as well, put an entire team on her back. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C. Girls 2019-20 Player of the Year: Abby’s compact Marin Lenz has taken giant steps to stand at the top of her game

ABBOTSFORD — It’s the highest sign of opposition respect to have your offensive game so greatly feared that you wind up facing one junk defence after another.

Meet Valleyview's Indigo Learie (left) and the rest of our first-ever B.C. Fab Five teams, the top five players as selected by the BCSSGBA from all four provincial tiers. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C.’s blue-chip best for 2019-20! From Quad, to Triple… from Double to Single, here’s our Fab Five girls hoops picks from every tier!

LANGLEY — Welcome to the day before opening tip here at the 2020 B.C. senior girls basketball championships. Over a season in which teams competed within a revamped geography of zones and new league alliances, we have arrived at our annual look at the top players in the province.

High-flying Ron Putzi dunks during the Richmond Colts' 1988 title win over Seaquam at the PNE Agrodome. (Photo property of BCHSBBOA 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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…And then there were two! The Diamond Jubilee 75th anniversary fantasy bracket produces our two all-time boys team finalists!

LANGLEY — We’ve arrived at the Final Four of our 75th anniversary all-time 64-team B.C. High School Boys Basketball Association championship bracket.None of the fan bases from any of our quartet of survivors wants to hear that our committee couldn’t make a bad choice, but the truth is, these are saw-off matchups.Coins were not flipped, […]

Longtime St. Patrick's boys basketball architect Nap Santos shows his emotion as he congratulates the JV Celtics on their run to Tuesday's B.C. JV championship final. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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Celtics hoping that Tuesday is St. Patrick’s Day! No. 1 seeds storm Walnut Grove in JV semifinals, now set to face Churchill in all-Van City B.C. final

LANGLEY — The St. Patrick’s Celtics spent the first two days of the 2020 B.C. junior boys basketball championships looking like a team seemingly miscast as the 32-team event’s No. 1 overall seed.Yet as the second half of it’s provincial semifinal against the No. 4 seed Walnut Grove Gators of Langley began Monday evening at […]

The big Dawg in charge, Sir Winston Churchill's Filip Subotic (right) finds his way past Kelowna's Maxim Storozhuk during Monday's semifinal clash at the 2020 B.C. junior boys basketball championships at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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Sir Winston Churchill set to challenge for B.C. junior boys title after Subotic directs Bulldogs to big win over Kelowna Owls

LANGLEY — It hasn’t been that long since Vancouver’s Sir Winston Churchill Secondary last experienced the sweet sensation of a provincial boys basketball championships, but after six years, Bulldogs nation might be one sleep away from adding another.Point guard Filip Subotic’s game-high 29 points, as well a healthy does of his on-court generalship proved to […]

Burnaby South's Sasha Vujisic (left) does his best to disrupt Centennial's Paul Didenko during Sunday's inaugural Fraser North Quad-A final at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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Ten days before 75th B.C. boys tourney tips off, No. 1 Burnaby South and No. 2 Centennial remind an LEC sell-out crowd what is so great about this game!

LANGLEY — Once, twice, and now three times makes it a trend. At least that’s what Centennial co-coach Rob Sollero surmised Sunday night, after his No. 2-ranked Centaurs faced the No. 1-ranked Burnaby South Rebels for the third time this season, this time for the first-ever Fraser North Quad-A hoops crown.

Abbotsford's Lockhart MacGreggor (centre) battles through the defence of Kelowna's Everett Schmuland (left) and Ryan Braam during B.C. junior boys quarterfinal play Sunday at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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FINAL EDITION B.C. Junior Boys Championships DAY 2: Top seeds all advance as Celtics, ‘Dawgs, Owls, Gators combine for a high-powered Final Four

LANGLEY — How’s that for a seeding committee that knows it’s stuff?It’s a draw that may be distinctly lacking in Cinderellas, yet there is no question that the whichever teams claims the 2020 B.C. junior boys basketball title is going to be full deserving.No., 1 seed St. Patrick’s, No. 2 seed Sir Winston Churchill, No. […]