LANGLEY — It’s not right to call the Terry Fox Ravens the surprise of the 2024 B.C. junior boys basketball championships.But it has been surprising these days to see a team hanging its hat, on a game-by-game basis this week at the Langley Events Centre, by the way it defines itself as a collection of […]
High School
“He’s our heart and soul” St. Pat’s coach says of Riley Santa Juana, who lifts St. Celtics past Van College Irish and into B.C. junior boys final!
LANGLEY — An injury kept Riley Santa Juana from doing one of the things he does the very best.Yet in a magical season of overcoming adversity, the 6-0 Grade 10 guard with East Vancouver’s St. Patrick’s Celtics never let it hold him back when it mattered most on the floor Monday night at a standing-room-only […]
Kaman Kaila: New Westminster’s star Grade 10 guards shatters 53-year single-game scoring record with 51 points at 2024 B.C. junior boys tourney!
LANGLEY — Kaman Kaila swears he was feeling it in the warm-ups early Sunday afternoon here at the B.C. junior boys basketball championships.With his New Westminster Hyacks set to face the Richmond Colts on the consolation side of the bracket, the 6-foot-2 grade 10 guard had a feeling he might be able to do something […]
Avery Sussex and the Big Dance: How an amazing high school debut at Riverside foretold a career of dominance, and a chance to forge an unforgettable Rapids’ finish!
PORT COQUITLAM — The basketball court is the place where Avery Sussex has shown her heart from the very start.It’s also the place where it’s been impossible to miss the fact that she’s had her guile for a while.Very few players ever make the kind of debut that Sussex did, when as a 10th grader […]
With shades of past Yale glory, the Brothers Roberts harken memories of 2015’s Jauquin-Riley duo as Lions tops Mountain for 4A Valley East crown!
LANGLEY — You sat courtside and watched their efficiency.Your eye would wander to the scoreboard, where at times it seemed like the digits were changing at hyper speed.In the end, against an R.E, Mountain Eagles team of Langley, which has earned so much on its own merit with its recent groundbreaking berth to the upcoming […]
With its Big Barometre back, MEI Eagles top Brookswood to claim Eastern Valley’s lone Triple-A Big Dance ticket!
LANGLEY — Ask Mike Lee how well he thought his MEI Eagles might have played on any certain day this season, and the team’s head coach goes to one place in his mind’s eye first.He’ll think about how well the team’s 6-foot-9 forward Spencer Tatlock played before he speaks about the entire team.“We go by […]
Burnaby South look like a team entering their peak! On the eve of March Madness, Rebels find stride in Fraser North title win over Heritage Woods!
LANGLEY — It’s not a stretch to say that the Burnaby South Rebels have faced more adversity off the court than on it this senior boys basketball season.A mass of complications which arose from its initial self-reporting of playing an ineligible player in games suddenly took on a life of its own, and in the […]
B.C. Junior boys 2024 Elite 8: St. Pat’s beats Pacific Academy in OT thriller to end Cinderella run of 22nd-seeded Breakers!
By Nic Flint (Special for Varsity Letters)LANGLEY — On paper, this was supposed to be a walk in the park for the top-seeded St. Patrick’s Celtics of Vancouver as they took on the 22nd-seeded Pacific Academy Breakers of Surrey in the quarterfinal round Saturday as B.C. junior boys basketball championships hit the midway mark of […]
B.C. Junior boys 2024 Elite 8: Oak Bay Bays punch Final Four ticket by showing their punch on offensive glass, top Collingwood as chase for title continues!
By Nic Flint (Special for Varsity Letters)LANGLEY — The quarter-final match-up between the eighth-seeded Collingwood Cavaliers and the top seeded Oak Bay Bays was a high-energy, physical game from the very beginning that the Bays would go on to win 55-43.Both teams’ defences started out very well, playing physical and not allowing easy, open shots […]
Fraser North Triple-A finals: Magic Moe and the Ramblers roll! Maple Ridge off to BC’s after gritty win over St. Thomas More Knights!
LANGLEY — The Maple Ridge Ramblers are starting to look like the Detroit Lions of B.C. high school basketball.From winless, 0-20 season in 2021-22 as Grade 9s to qualifying for the B.C. senior boys Triple-A tournament as the champions of the Fraser North?Yup.“We went from not winning a game with our crew in Grade 9.. […]