Steveston Packers Gareth Davies (left) and Ryan Brown celebrate a B.C. championship win over Richmond in 1984. (Photo used through the permission of the BC High School Boys Basketball Association 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Quad C: Inside the diamond jubilee regionals! Kudos to a Double-A dynasty, as well the Royals, Ravens, Gators and Huskies

NORTH DELTA — Welcome to Quadrant C of our 75th anniversary All-Time B.C. High School Boys Basketball Tournament Bracket.

We have posted the complete bracket featuring all 32 first round results right here at VarsityLetters.ca, and we will include that same bracket with each of our in-depth looks at all four quadrants. (See bottom)

VarsityLetters.ca did not take part in the team selections nor the fantasy outcomes.

Next week’s second-round results will like run either Tuesday or perhaps Wednesday. Stayed tuned for further details on the actual release date.

DRAW SIDE 2

QUADRANT C

SUB-REGIONAL 1

(at Kamloops-Tournament Capital Centre)

No.  1 Richmond (1988) vs. No. 16 Yale (2010)

The skinny — With point guard Marek Klasen running the show and Matt Letkeman doing his stuff in the front court, the 2010 Yale Lions were 49-40 winners over WRCA in the B.C. final.

Unfortunately, their seed hurts them big time as they face the team which back in 2005, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the BCHSBBA tournament, was selected as the No. 1 team in the history of the championships: The 1988 Richmond Colts.

By 1988, head coach Bill Disbrow’s Colts were a well-oiled machine, led by Joey deWit, Brian Tait and MVP Ron Putzi. That season, the Colts topped a very good Seaquam Seahawks team 99-80 in the title game, going undefeated against B.C. competition for two straight seasons.

FINAL SCORE: Richmond 91 Yale 76

No. 8 North Surrey (1981) vs. No. 9 Lambrick Park (2004)

The skinny — North Surrey somehow absorbed a 16-0 first-half run by Duncan’s Cowichan Thunderbirds, outscoring the Vancouver Island squad and its MVP Greg Walters by a 20-7 margin over the fourth quarter to win its second B.C. title in five seasons.

Yet the selection committee, appreciating what head coach Ed Somers had done, winning the Victoria program’s third-straight Double-A title in 2004, and its fifth overall, gave the nod to the Lions in a close game befitting the Nos. 8-9 seeds.

FINAL SCORE: Lambrick Park 74 vs. North Surrey 72

SUB-REGIONAL 2

(at North Delta Secondary)

No. 5 Walnut Grove (2013) vs. No. 12 Kitsilano (2001) 

The skinny — After losing in the B.C. title game in 2012 to a dramatic last-second shot, head coach George Bergen, star MVP Jadon Cohee and the rest of Langley’s Walnut Grove Gators were a team that would not be denied in 2013, delivering the school’s first title with a 59-53 win over the WRCA Warriors.

Despite facing a Kits team boasting the likes of Chris Porteous and Levon Kendall, the selection committee went with Cohee and the Gators in a tight one.

FINAL SCORE: Walnut Grove 68 Kitsilano 65

Handsworth’s Robert Sacre blocks a shot during the 2006 B.C. Triple A championship tournament at the PNE Agrodome. (Photo used through the permission of the BC High School Boys Basketball Association 2020. All Rights Reserved)

No. 4 Handsworth (2006) vs. No. 13 (R.C. Palmer (2011)

The skinny — It was tournament MVP and future Los Angeles Laker Robert Sacre with 17 points and 12 rebounds, and the late Quinn Keast with 17 points and 16 assists.

Led by MVP and future Gonzaga Bulldog/L.A. Lakers post Sacre, and his unselfish ability to open up the entire floor for his teammates, North Vancouver’s Royals got the job done with a decisive 82-65 win over Kitsilano in the title game.

Quite memorably, their foes in this fantasy clash, the 2011 R.C. Palmer Griffins of Richmond, showed they were the kind of team which simply could not be counted out against anyone.

Trailing 19-2 to Vancouver College in its title tilt, the first ever played at the Langley Events Centre, the Griffins and head coach Paul Eberhardt somehow rallied to win 71-63.

In their fantasy match-up, Palmer’s Ranjodh Hare does everything in his power to try to slow Sacre, but Handsworth also counters with the likes of Keast, Scott Leigh, and Don Lee and finds a way to get it done.

FINAL SCORE: Handsworth 78 R.C. Palmer 69

SUB-REGIONAL 3

(at Richmond High)

No. 6 Kitsilano (2002) vs. No. 11 Terry Fox (1994)

The skinny — No team has managed a repeat title since 2002 when senior Levon Kendall and Chris Porteous put on a display by combining for 49 points and 21 rebounds as the Blue Demons beat Victoria’s Claremont Spartans 81-52 in what remains the most decisive top-tiered final in B.C. boys history.

Based on the repeat and the way in which they cut a swath to the title, the selection committee chose Kits in a close one over a Terry Fox team which truthfully, was just as impressive in its own title repeat, as head coach Rich Chambers’ Ravens beat the Richmond Colts 73-66 in the final with a cast that included all-stars Dave Morgan, Vic Grigore and Aaron Mitchell.

FINAL SCORE: Kitsilano 73 Terry Fox 70

North Delta’s Chad Johnston (22) was an inside force during the Huskies run to the 1990 Triple-A title. (Photo used through the permission of the BC High School Boys Basketball Association 2020. All Rights Reserved)

No. 3 North Delta (1971) vs. No. 14 Steveston (1984)

The skinny —North Delta head coach Stan Stewardson’s game plan would certainly have been to find a way to limit the touches and opportunities which made Steveston’s Gareth Davies such a strike-force option within the Packers’ offence.

Davies, whose 45 points remain the all-time record for a top-tiered tourney final some 36 years after he set the mark in an 84-59 title-game win over the Richmond Colts, would certainly be introduced to the tough-minded Huskies, who in 1971 were led by their star player Dave Coutu, as well as stalwarts like Mike McNeill, John Buis and Stu Graham.

With a maniacal work ethic courtesy of the late Stewardson, the entire blueprint of Huskies’ tradition was laid by the ’71 Dawgs who beat Vancouver College 43-38 in the title game.

FINAL SCORE: North Delta 68 Steveston 51

Steveston’s Gareth Davies (left) has held the record for most points scored in a top-tiered B.C. boys championship final since 1984. (Photo used through the permission of the BC High School Boys Basketball Association 2020. All Rights Reserved)

SUB-REGIONAL 4

(at Centennial)

No. 7 Richmond (1998) No. 10 Maple Ridge (1986)

The skinny — Two of the most enduring coaches in B.C. high school history meet with among the best teams they’ve ever produced.

Ken Dockendorf’s Maple Ridge Ramblers beat the J.D. Jackson-led Vernon Panthers 77-71 two months before the start of Expo ’86 with a line-up that included MVP Todd Osborn, and all-stars John Carlson and Glenn Cote.

Bill Disbrow’s Richmond Colts pulled the trick for the fifth-and-final time in 1998 behind force-of-nature MVP guard Pasha Bains, Gil Cheung and Atnas Maeko.

The ’86 Ramblers were a team capable of winning by outscoring teams, but Bains and 1998 Colts get the W.

“That one is a coin toss,” said one veteran observer. “But I would have to give the slight edge to Richmond.”

FINAL SCORE: Richmond 92 Maple Ridge 83

No. 2 Terry Fox (1993) vs. No. 15 Dover Bay (2007)

The skinny — Nanaimo’s Dover Bay Dolphins parlayed great team play and defence into a run which made them one of the more memorable and unlikely champions in tournament history.

MVP post Pat McCarthy and all-star Greg Gillies were superb for the winners.

Yet Don Van Os’ 1993 Ravens, a 77-72 winner over North Delta in the final, were a juggernaut squad, ultra-talented and led by Bret Anderson, Chris Szarka and Vic Grigore.

FINAL SCORE: Terry Fox 74 Dover Bay 59

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