NO. 1 ST. JOHN’S SCHOOL 73 NO. 12 IMMACULATA 49
By GARY KINGSTON (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – You win one – an historic one at that – you might as well go back-to-back.
The St. John’s Eagles, who won the school’s first provincial senior boys basketball title in 2025, earned the coveted chance to make it two in a row after advancing this year’s final of the Single A championship with a 73-49 victory Friday over the No. 12 Immaculata Mustangs at Langley Events Centre.
The underdog Mustangs had pulled off consecutive upsets the first two days of the tournament, but the pre-tourney loss of starting guard Brody Melnyk to a foot injury, a stout Eagles’ defence and some shooting woes shut down their dream of a dramatic lower-seed run in the 16-team tier.
For the top-seeded Eagles, who beat Immaculata by 38 in January, it was business as usual as they continued to showcase their dominance over the Single A tier.
“Last year (at provincials), it was the first time and everyone was really happy,” said senior guard Kian Afshar. “This year, it’s more business, more serious. Winning now is becoming a culture. We’re going to be more prepared.”
The final will be a matchup against the winner of the Vernon Christian-Simmilkaeen later Friday afternoon.
The win over Immaculata was a bit of a strange one with both teams going on surprising runs at different times.
The Mustangs took an early 6-2 lead on the back of a pair of offensive rebound putbacks from Mateo Rizzo, but the Eagles soared into a big lead on the strength of a 20-4 run over the first and second quarters.
The Eagles then stretched the lead to 20 and looked set to run Immaculata out of the Centre Court gym before a quick 9-0 run late in the second on back-to-back-to-back three pointers allowed the Mustangs to climb back into the game.
They trailed 39-26 at the half and opened the third on a 7-0 surge to close the game gap to six, but the Eagles surged back, largely on the strong work of sharp-shooting guards Douglas Cassidy and Afshar.
Then, despite giving up a couple of easy baskets in transition when they failed to track Mustangs’ leaking out on the break, the Eagles tightened late, not allowing a point in the final four minutes while going on an 11-0 run.
“We played them earlier in the year and they’re a 100 per cent different team,” said St. John’s head coach Jonathan Kinman. “They scrap and they have heart and they’re well coached and I don’t think the score was really indicative of the game.”
Immaculate bench boss Brett Boechler would agree with that.
“We got to within six points there at one point and felt pretty good about it, but then it just kind of seemed like there was a lid on the basket. We couldn’t get any easy ones to go in.”
The Mustangs wound up shooting just 29.2 per cent from the field, including a dismal four-of-25 from behind the arc and were outrebounded 62-41 despite holding a height advantage.
St. John’s shot 40 per cent as both Cassidy and Afshar kept draining clutch shots. Cassidy, who had a game-high 27 points, dropped nine in a row for St. John’s late in the fourth, off a three-pointer, a floater in the lane, a fastbreak layup and a mid-range jumper.
“He’s just fearless,” Kinman said of the six-foot Cassidy, who, as a Grade 10, drained two huge three-pointers late in the championship final in 2025. “His feet are set, he’s going to pull the trigger.
“He had a big game on offence,” said Kinman, before adding with a grin, “He’s got some things to clean up on defence.”
Cassidy said he’s focussed on taking a stronger role in his Grade 11 season. And he’d like to cap it with another Single A title.
“Going back-to-back would mean everything. “It’s much harder to repeat . . . but it’s a culture with us and we’re prepared.”
Except for some lapses in concentration in transition, Klinman was relatively happy with his defence.
“We’ve got enough guys that score the ball, so our whole focus all year long has been playing defence and rebounding the basketball because we’re not very big. Holding them to 49 points that’s a credit to our guys because (Immaculata) can score the ball.”
Rizzo scored 22 to lead the Mustangs, while Kai Olivera chipped in 11.
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