By Howard Tsumura
Varsity Letters
TOWNSHIP OF LANGLEY — No one less than Michael Jordan once said “…talent wins games, but intelligence and teamwork win championships.”
The Burnaby South Rebels, along with every other teams still in title contention here at the 2026 B.C. junior boys basketball championships, could surely use a Grade 10 version of MJ to bolster their lineup.
Yet if you talk to Rebels’ head coach Cody Cormack, Jordan’s words, or something very similar, might end up being enough for those teams prodigious enough to tip off in Monday’s Final Four at the Langley Events Centre.
“It kind of circles back to, you know, being consistent, and playing ‘we-over-me’ basketball, and that’s what we did today,” Cormack explained in the aftermath of his No. 2-seeded team’s convincing 65-38 win over the studious, well-coached and No. 7-seeds, Brentwood College from Vancouver Island’s Mill Bay.
“I think each and every one of them played for each other,” he continued. “They didn’t worry about individual stat lines, but focussed on a total goal of getting the win, and that’s exactly what we did.”
The victory propels the Rebels into Monday’s late semifinal, an 8 p.m. tip against the No. 3-seeded Holy Cross Crusaders of Surrey.
This season, it has been impossible to underestimate the impact that last season’s loss at the B.C. tournament, at the very same stage to eventual finalist Argyle of North Vancouver, had on Burnaby South’s outlook heading into the current season back in the fall.
For Cormack, it was about recognizing how much skill the group had overall, especially with two of its key leaders, then finding the best way to combine that strength with his aforementioned ‘We-over-Me’ mindset.
Sunday’s win over Brentwood College seemed a perfect example.
“I think this is one of the most skilled teams that I’ve ever coached and so I think the challenge, as I mentioned, is getting them to play for each other,” Cormack said. “I think we can win a lot of games and beat a lot of teams just based on individual skill set. But to be able to beat the best they’re going to have to play as one and understand that it’s all for one and one for all. And the end goal is to win the chip. So they got to be able to put their individual goals aside and understand that there’s only one basketball… that what you do without the ball is more important than what you can do with it.”
To that end, there was a synthesis at work Sunday as Burnaby South built quarter leads of 24-5, 38-15 and 55-27 en route to the win.
And that’s because within the team schematic, perhaps its two most prodigious players were continuing to trust that selfless play would allow each to affect the greater whole even more.
“Two of our leaders this year were in that same game last year against Argyle and we fell short,” Cormack said of two of his starting guards, 6-foot Nolan Ellis and 5-10 Miguel Samson. “And we fell short. So obviously they had some added motivation to make sure that we got one step closer to where we want to be at the end of the year.”
Samson scored a game-high 20 points in the victory, while Ellis came out of the blocks on fire, with 16 of his 18 points coming in the first half.
Tiger Li led Brentwood College with 13 points while Josh Vanderputten added 11 and Ryo Johnson eight.
“I think that their growth, both on and off the court, is equally important, and I think that’s kind of what you see in high school basketball,” added Cormack. “All of us coaches do it out of the kindness of our heart. We’re not we’re not getting paid to do it. So to see them grow and see them become successful, that’s what we do it for. So it’s great to see. I’m happy for both of them. I’m happy for the team as a whole. And I’m excited for tomorrow.”
So too, should anyone with a penchant for fluid, high-tempo hoops.
In two meetings this season (1-1) all that has been proven is that Burnaby South and Holy Cross can each light it up as well as the other.
“I think when you compare us to them, I think we are as close as it gets in terms of approach to the game and the way that we play,” confirmed Cormack. “I think we both play fast, we both try and push the pace, and we have a whole bunch of skills. So it’ll be interesting to see.”
The difference?
Perhaps in the words of MJ the Immortal: “…talent wins games, but intelligence and teamwork win championships.”
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