Vancouver College Fighting Irish senior guard Jack Cruz-Dumont wants to carve his own path as he follows his late father's footsteps to a spot with the UBC Thunderbirds. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of UBC athletics)
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Jack Cruz-Dumont: Like his father before him, UBC basketball inks a kid who bleeds blue-and-gold

VANCOUVER — It’s easy to say that the UBC Thunderbirds have a better men’s basketball program today because of their latest recruit, a kid teeming with skills and upside.

Douglas College's Joe Enevoldson led the Royals to a silver medal finish at the CCAA national championships on Saturday night. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Douglas College men’s hoop: Royals magical run to CCAA national final ends amidst fourth-quarter fatigue

The sign held high by the cheering section of Toronto’s Seneca College Sting read ‘Sting Them Where It Hurts’ and in the end, the bite of defeat finally de-railed the magical post-season run of New Westminster’s Douglas College Royals.

Douglas College freshman Josiah Mastandrea came off the bench Friday in Laval to hit four triples and help Douglas College past defending national champion Montmorency and into a berth in Saturday's CCAA national final. (File photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letter.ca)
Former Kits Blue Demons' star Noah DeRappard-Yuswack, now a fifth-year senior, was outstanding Thursday in leading his Douglas College Royals to within a win of appearing in Saturday's CCAA championship final in Laval. (Varsity Letters file photo by Howard Tsumura)
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DeRappard-Yuswack, Morris clean the glass, Douglas College Royals show grace under pressure to punch CCAA Final Four tickets

It was the kind of game, you figured, that Randy Coutts and Aaron Mitchell, high school head coaches past and present, were watching on their laptop computer screens Thursday night, nodding their heads in recognition of the hustle and the skill that their respective former players made a habit of showing though pre-university careers.

In just his second season behind the bench as head coach, former TRU and UBC assistant Joe Enevoldson has New Westminster's Douglas College Royals back in the CCAA national tourney for the first time in 10 years. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca_
Feature University Men's Basketball

One decade later: Signature wins over VIU Mariners give New West’s Douglas College Royals berth in CCAA national tourney

NEW WESTMINSTER — It’s Monday morning, following a weekend in which Canada’s reigning university basketball dynasty was brought to a grinding halt, and Joe Enevoldson seems a little out of breath as he answers a reporter’s phone call.

Kedar Salam has been the centre of attention for opposing defences this season. The senior plays his final home game Saturday atop Burnaby Mountain. (Varsity Letters photo by Howard Tsumura)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Kedar Salam: Simon Fraser’s GNAC scoring leader, a student of the game, has his home finale Saturday

BURNABY — Kedar Salam isn’t going to get a taste of the post-season over his final year of college basketball, yet Simon Fraser’s senior guard is proving to everyone around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference that over the 2017-18 campaign, he has been its single greatest offensive threat.

A positional tweak this season has upped the volume of Phil Jalalpoor's offensive contribution to the UBC offence, and the Thunderbirds' German import has made it count. (Bob Frid photo/UBC athletics)
Feature University Men's Basketball

UBC’s Phil Jalalpoor: How a basketball vagabond unpacked his bags and found a perfect fit in Thunderbird nation

VANCOUVER — You’d like to think that the basketball gods put a little check mark by his name back in the fall of 2009. Yes, they would have agreed, it was gutsy how this ninth-grade German kid, at the tender age of 14, left his safe European home on a solo flight to North America

UBC Thunderbirds senior Luka Zaharijevic shares a moment with both his father and school president Santa J. Ono (right). On Friday, Zaharijevic plays his final Canada West regular season game when the Birds host Victoria at War Gym. (Richard Lam/UBC athletics)
Feature University Men's Basketball

For UBC’s Luka Zaharijevic, the weight is over; ‘Birds big man pounds the paint, but not the scales

VANCOUVER — “It’s a secret,” Luka Zaharijevic smiles in response to an intrepid reporter’s question about his current weight. Cryptic? Yes.

Parker Simson wanted to reach a new level following a B.C. AAAA high school basketball championship title with the Kelowna Owls in 2016. He gets a chance to meet that goal this weekend back in his hometown, this time with the UBC Thunderbirds. (Photo used through the permission of UBC athletics)
Feature University Men's Basketball

A weekend for history: Parker Simson aims to become second UBC athlete in 57 years to play football, basketball in same school year

VANCOUVER — As Parker Simson prepared for a most unique moment in UBC sports history this weekend, and in of all places his hometown of Kelowna, he was professing an appreciation for one of sport’s oldest cliches.

Junior college transfer Jordan Muir-Keung has the potential to give the Clan a much-needed scoring boost over the second half of a 2017-18 GNAC campaign which begins Thursday atop Burnaby Mountain against Seattle Pacific. (VarsityLetters photo by Howard Tsumura)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Clan shooters encouraged to ‘feel like they can’t miss’ as SFU looks to snap losing skid Thursday at West Gym White-Out

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — JJ Pankratz continues to battle through an ankle injury. Iziah Sherman-Newsome keeps on plugging, despite those tough defensive assignments that have matched him against much bigger opposition. And Kedar Salam has had enough big-scoring games this season, that he’s getting the best defensive game plan rival teams can throw his way.