Handsworth's Ashton Bain looks for a cutter while defended by Riley Santa Juana of St. Patrick's during opening-round play Saturday at the 52nd annual B.C. junior boys basketball championships at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Day 1 B.C. Junior Boys championships: Keeping pace with Sudden Saturday’s 32-game schedule!

LANGLEY — Round one of Day 1 of the 32-team B.C. junior boys basketball championships is now complete at the Langley Events Centre.

We’ve started a new posting to cover the evening card’s Sweet 16 games. You can find it in the lead spot at VarsityLetters.ca

Here is how that round shapes up based on the 16 sudden-elimination games played earlier today:

TOP HALF DRAW

QUADRANT A (Centre Court)

4 p.m. — SMUS (Van Isle-4) vs. Claremont (Van Isle-2)

5:30 p.m. — Vancouver College (Indy-1) vs. Rutland (Thomspon-Okanagan-2)

(Winners meet 12:30 p.m. Sunday in Quarterfinals)

QUADRANT B (South Court)

4 p.m. — Oak Bay (Van Isle-1) vs. Rick Hansen Eastern Valley-2)

5:30 p.m. — Lord Byng (Vancouver-1) vs. Brookswood (host)

(Winners meet 11 a.m. Sunday in Quarterfinals)

BOTTOM HALF DRAW

QUADRANT C (Centre Court)

7 p.m. — Kelowna (Thompson-Okanagan-1) vs. St. Patrick’s (play-in)

8:30 p.m. — Fleetwood Park (SF-1) vs. Walnut Grove (East Valley-3)

(Winners meet 2:00 p.m. Sunday in Quarterfinals)

QUARDANT D (South Court)

7 p.m. — Spectrum (at-large) vs. West Vancouver (North Shore-2)

8:30 p.m. — Burnaby South (Fraser North-1) vs. Tamanawis (South Fraser-3)

(Winners meet 3:30 p.m. Sunday in Quarterfinals)

All Sunday quarterfinals at South Court.

Fleetwood Park’s Harjap Sangha and Summerland’s Charlie Krysa are involved in a tip drill (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2022. All Rights Reserved)

1:30 p.m. Round

Victoria’s Spectrum Thunder made it a Vancouver Island foursome in the Sweet 16 round here at the B.C. junior boys championships.

The Thunder, behind an electric 36 point outing by Grade 9 forward Justin Hinrichsen, edged Abbotsford’s MEI Eagles 68-64.

Hinrichsen, the son of former Campbell River-Carihi,  Victoria Vikes and Canadian Olympic team star Eric Hinrichsen, scored a game-high 36 points, including a 14-of-15 free-throw performance.

Tyler Felt added 10 more points for the winners, while MEI was led by the trio of Spencer Tatlock (18 points), and Bailey Neufeld and Klassen, who each scored 10.

MEI closed to within 64-62 on a pair of Malakai Klassen free throws, but the Thunder held on to win.

The victory for Spectrum pushes it into a 7 p.m. Sweet 16 clash later tonight against the West Vancouver Highlanders.

In other games, Burnaby South defeated R.E, Mountain Eagles of Langley 61-33; the Kelowna Owls topped the Prince George Polars 67-43; Surrey’s Fleetwood Park Dragons beat the Summerland Rockets 65-45.

Tamanawis guard Ekjot Bahia goes airborne as he drives to the hoop against St. Thomas More’s Matias Garcia on Day 1 of the 52nd annual B.C. junior boys basketball championships Feb. 26 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2022. All Rights Reserved)

11:30 a.m. Round

Surrey’s Tamanawis Wildcats answered the bell and got its provincial championship run off to an encouraging start with a 79-40 win over Burnaby’s St. Thomas More Knights.

Gursewak Mann led the winners with a game-high 17 points, while Seva Virk added 14 points and Sunny Dhami a further 11.

Zeru Abera led the Knights with 10 points.

In other 11:30 a.m.-round games: Langley’s Walnut Grove Gators topped Surrey’s Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers 70-36; Kelowna’s Rutland VooDoos beat the Nanaimo District Islanders 58-46; the West Vancouver Highlanders edged Port Coquitlam’s Terry Fox Ravens 57-52.

Semiahmoo Thunderbirds’ forward Jack Clayton finds himself surrounded by SMUS Blue Jags players on Day 1 of the 52nd annual B.C. junior boys basketball championships Feb. 26 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2022. All Rights Reserved)

10 a.m. Round

Victoria’s St. Michaels University School Blue Jags held on to claim a 61-58 win over Surrey’s Semiahmoo Thunderbirds.

Semiahmoo had an overtime-forcing trey fall short at the regulation buzzer.

In a game locked at 31-31 at the half, Damon Bains led the winners with a co-game-high 17 points. Sam Gramada had 14 points and Taiga Parmar added 12 points.

Semiahmoo was led by the co-game-high 17 points of Jack Clayton and 16 more from Jordan Waraich.

In other 10 a.m. games, Victoria’s Oak Bay Bays defeated Surrey’s Pacific Academy Breakers 60-44; the host Brookswood Bobcats of Langley pounced on Prince George’s Duchess Park Condors and came away with a 62-43 win; Vancouver College Fighting Irish toppled the Salmo Falcons 115-26.

Paul Ude of Surrey’s Pacific Academy Breakers rises for a shot in the paint against Victoria’s Oak Bay Bays on Day 1 of the 52nd annual B.C. junior boys basketball championships Feb. 26 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2022. All Rights Reserved)

8:30 a.m. Round

The defending champion St. Patrick’s Celtics of Vancouver, forced to gain entry in to the draw via a play-in win earlier this week against Elgin Park, toppled Vancouver Sea-to-Sky champion Handsworth of North Vancouver 76-71.

Jovin Sunner led the winners with 23 points, while Danny Geppert scored 16 and Jerome Alojado added another 14.

27 Ashton Bain scored a game-high 27 points in the loss for the Royals. Cale Watson added 19 while 6-foot-8 Shervin Shoureshi scored all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter.

In other opening-round games in the 8:30 a.m. hour, Vancouver’s Lord Byng Grey Ghosts topped Terrace’s Caledonia Kermodes 68-42; Abbotsford’s Rick Hansen Hurricanes beat Vancouver’s King George Dragons 49-38; Victoria’s Claremont Spartans out-lasted Kamloops’ Sa-Hali Sabres 56-45.

10 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. menus will follow with four sudden-elimination games in each segment.

The Sweet 16 follows with two sudden-elimination games being played at 4 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

Sunday’s quarterfinal action kicks off exclusively at the South Court complex with games at 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.

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