Sir Charles Tupper players moments after punching their tickets to the Big Dance as the Tigers topped Abbotsford's Robert Bateman Timberwolves 63-50 in the B.C. Triple-A sudden-elimination provincial qualifier game played Feb. 17, 2026 at Surrey's Southridge School. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2026. All Rights Reserved)
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Tupper’s time arrives! After 46 years, East Van’s Sir Charles Tupper punch 11th-hour Big Dance tickets! UVic-bound Denira Dundas leads way to last-chance qualifier win over Robert Bateman!

By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caSURREY — In your entire high school life, is there any course in the classroom you could take that would teach you the true meaning of sacrifice and perseverance in the quest of your cause better than playing a win-or-go home basketball game for a berth to the B.C. championships?Better still, how about […]

St. Patricks' senior guard Riley Santa Juana poses with TBI's Howard Tsumura after being named Super 16 MVP, Dec. 6, 2025 at the Langley Event Centre's South Court. (Photo by Jacob Mallari property of Langley Events Centre 2025. All Rights Reserved)
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Varsity Letters bulletin: Coaches and players, please be patient as we finalize our dates for Dec. 2026 Tsumura Basketball Invitationals for girls and boys at the Langley Events Centre!

By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caTOWNSHIP OF LANGLEY — Hello to our community of senior girls and boys high school basketball coaches around the province of B.C.Howard Tsumura here today with a message to everyone wondering about the dates for the 2026 Tsumura Basketball Invitational which has traditionally been played over the first two weeks of December.Due to […]

Wellington's Jackson Peters was all the rage, turning in a dominant performance to lead the Wildcats past Surrey's Sullivan Heights Stars during Day 1 action from the 2025 TBI Select 16 draw, Dec. 3, 2025 at the Langley Events Centre. The Wildcats along with Edward Milne, Brentwood College, Mark Isfeld and Lambrick Park are a quintet of Vancouver Island 3A teams set to do battle in what is expected to be a hotly-contested zone tourney for three BC berths and a potential wildcard. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2025. All Rights Reserved)
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02.16.26 BC Basketball Metrics edition: Where are the best boys provincial berth battles! Too many to choose, but how about 4A South Fraser, Okanagan, plus 3A Van Isle and 1A East Valley!

By Howard TsumuraVarsity LettersLANGLEY —Interesting how much intrigue the wildcard factor is ramping up the chatter around the province as we get to that stage of the season where it’s win-or-go-home in the chase for B.C. boys tournament berths.Through our weekly B.C. Basketball Metrics peeks, the plot lines have clearly been sketched, but like any […]

Now into his fourth decade of coaching B.C. high school basketball, Grandview Heights Grizzlies senior head coach Drew Gallacher has always valued character as the cornerstone of his programs. Here he is in action during South Fraser Quad-A regular-season finale Feb. 9, 2026 in Surrey. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2026. All Rights Reserved)
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A Sunday Read: It’s a new high for No. 3 Grandview Heights, and for Grizzlies head coach Drew Gallacher, the chance to inspire seems a role he was born to play! Just ask the Fighting Finnegan himself!

By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caSURREY — Did you happen to see the current week’s B.C. senior boys high school basketball rankings for the Quad-A tier when they were published on these pages Wednesday afternoon?There they were, South Surrey’s Grandview Heights Grizzlies perched all the way at No. 3!You could say ‘Who?’ and you wouldn’t be wrong, yet […]

Holy Cross head coach Anthony Pezzente is one of several South Fraser Quad-A head coaches ready to begin what will be one of its most hotly-contested conference championship tourneys ever with ffive teams ranked in the current B.C. Top 10. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
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02.11.26 Top 10 edition: Vancouver Sea-to-Sky, South Fraser, Van Isle zones wielding the late-season hammer as the countdown to B.C. boys high school tourney-tip off reaches three weeks!

LANGLEY — Three weeks from today, a total of 32 sudden-elimination games will be on the docket as the 2026 B.C. senior boys high school basketball championships tip off at the Langley Events Centre.For a fun exercise in fortune telling, look at the projected Final Fours based on the top four at each of B.C.’s […]

Jashan Mahal (left) and teammate Joven Sanghera of the L.A. Matheson Mustangs play bookend defence on Abud Shawwa of the King George Dragons during TBI Select 16 championship final played Dec. 6, 2025 at the Langley Event Centre's South Court. (Photo by Jacob Mallari property of Langley Events Centre 2025. All Rights Reserved)
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So who’s on the bubble for the B.C. boys basketball tourney’s four coveted ‘strength-berth’ spots? With BC Basketball Metrics’ weekly numbers, we offer thoughts, and look at the week’s biggest news!

By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caLANGLEY — Putting a bit of a microscope to our third week of B.C. Basketball Metrics numbers is proving to generate all kinds of fun, stats-driven questions.We’ll start out with the biggest news in terms of movement this past week, with a look at the Quad-A, Triple-A and Double-A scenes.Then, we’ll look at […]

Seaquam's Callie Brost (left) fends off Johnston's Heights' Puneet Deol during South Fraser Quad-A league finale Feb. 4, 2026 in North Delta. The pair combined for 87 points including 52 by Deol. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2026. All Rights Reserved)
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No. 3 Seaquam 84 No. 5 Johnston Heights 77: While Puneet and Callie combine for 87 points, we search for the silver lining in a game ‘nobody won’!

By Howard TsumuraVarsity LettersNORTH DELTA — Ever watch a high school basketball game in which at its conclusion both teams could rightly claim a loss, yet along the way to said result, laid bare a pure guts performance so compelling that as a spectator you just felt fortunate to have been in the gym?That was […]

Roman Simmons of St. George's is guarded by Logan Ball of St. Thomas More during TBI Super 16 quarterfinals 12.05.24 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Ryan Molag property Langley Events Centre-TFSE 2024. All Rights Reserved)
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02.04.26 Sr. Boys Top 10 ranks: Epic home-and-home sets at 4A, 3A define the greatness of BC boys hoops! Saints-Irish, Enver-Matheson battles carry the day! Plus our final Jr. Boys Top 10!

LANGLEY — The Vancouver Independent league race between St. Georges and Vancouver College lived up to its late-season legend.Each team took turns winning on the other’s home court in a home-and-home last Thursday and Tuesday with the then-No. 1 Fighting Irish coming away with a 94-82 win in the first game, before the then-No. 7-Saints […]

Argyle point guard Sadie Danks splits the defence against Riverside during Tsumura Basketball Invitational Super 16 championship game action Dec. 13, 2025 at the Langley Event Centre’s Centre Court. (Photo by Ryan Molag property of Langley Events Centre 2025. All Rights Reserved)
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Yes, it’s a marathon, but for North Van’s No. 1-ranked Argyle Pipers, the Road to the LEC can also have its share of sprints!

By Howard TsumuraVarsity LettersNORTH VANCOUVER — Wonder what one of the best high school basketball teams in the province had planned for in the early morning hours of today, the first Tuesday in February?“Umm, we have wind sprints at 7:10 a.m., tomorrow morning… and it’s on purpose, right?” Anthony Beyrouti, head coach of the Quad-A […]

Johnston Heights' guard Anahat Kaur passes out an Argyle double team of Eva Woodward (centre) and Isabella Miljkovic during Tsumura Basketball Invitational Super 16 opening-round action Dec. 10, 2025 at the Langley Event Centre’s Centre Court. This week both teams are ranked in top five of the latest B.C. senior girls Quad-A basketball rankings. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2025. All Rights Reserved)
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02.02.26 edition: Pipers, Panthers, Crusaders and T-Wolves hold down the fort! Are latest BC senior girls Top 10 rankings the calm before the playoff storm?

LANGLEY — The calm before the storm.That’s perhaps the easiest way, ahead of the stretch-drive run to playoffs, to describe the quietest week of the B.C. senior girls basketball season… at least as far as movement in the provincial rankings is concerned.The Lambrick Park Pride’s four-spot rise in Double-A aside, the figurative pond remained placid […]