Fleetwood Park's Izaec Oppal drained three straight triple in the second half during Day 3 Final Four action at the B.C. senior boys high school basketball championships, March 10, 2023. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Happy 40th Birthday to the BC Boys High School Three-Pointer! Born in 1984-85, we trace its origins from near-total anonymity to its place as the game’s signature shot!

By HOWARD TSUMURA(Varsity Letters)(The first of a two-part series which concludes Tuesday, March 4)LANGLEY — In the first week of the new year, I took out my notepad and my voice recorder and I started to interview a lot of the acquaintances I have made over what has been a lifetime spent within our province’s […]

Argyle's 6-foot-5 Ilia Maydan squares up to slow Lord Tweedsmuir's Gurtaj Hayer during Final Four action from the 2025 B.C. Junior Boys Basketball Championships, Monday, Feb. 24 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Ryan Molag property of Langley Events Centre 2025. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Argyle’s unflappable Ilia Maydan leads with his heart as No. 1 Pipers top No. 4 Tweedy for berth in B.C. JV title game!

LANGLEY — A generation ago in B.C. boys high school basketball, the thought of seeing a perfectly in-tune 6-foot-5 Grade 10 point guard would have been a rumour it not an outright lie.But on Monday, in the semifinals here at the 2025 junior provincial semifinals, a kid named Ilia Maydan was nothing but the truth.Maydan, […]

Panagiotis Samaris of Burnaby South gets an up-close view of the wingspan of Argyle's Logan Szpak during quarterfinal play at the 2025 B.C. junior boys basketball championships Feb. 23 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2025. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

No. 1 Argyle tops Burnaby South! Now, after a near half-century between BC junior boys Final Fours, Pipers ready to play!

Every great team has its kryptonite.On Sunday, however, North Vancouver’s Argyle Pipers seemed to lace their figurative capes just that extra little bit tighter.And after a 72-57 win over a No. 8-seeded Burnaby South Rebels team that Pipers head coach Jamie Oei respectfully labels as its chief nemesis, the No. 1-seeded Pipers are headed to […]

Lord Tweedsmuir's Jaideep Athwal soars over Vancouver College duo of Ten Hetherington (0) and Marko Maric during quarterfinal play at the 2025 B.C. junior boys basketball championships Feb. 23 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2025. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

With its dynamic shooting and driving, and relentless defence, Lord Tweedy’s Panthers top VC Irish for BC JV Final 4 berth!

LANGLEY — The offence of the South Fraser champion Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers has been eye-popping this week here at the 2025 B.C. junior boys basketball championships.And when you ascend to that place where both shooting the three and attacking with gusto form a perfect duo of unpredictability, you arrive at a place where threats imagined […]

Terry Fox Ravens (left to right) Santiago Castro, Diego Castro and Joel Pelland played a hard-nosed brand of defence that helped the Poco squad past Surrey's Sullivan Heights Stars and into Monday's Final 4 at the 2025 B.C. Junior Boys Basketball championships Sunday at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Garrett James property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2025. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Terry Fox gets ravenous on defence… No. 3 Ravens’ no-name mentality fuels win over Sullivan and BC JV Final 4 berth!

LANGLEY — Take a quick glance at the main rotation in the back court of the Final Four-bound Terry Fox Ravens here at the 2025 B.C. junior boys basketball championships in Langley, and all the while tell yourself that looks can be deceiving.It’s guys like Diego Castro. Robi Felipe. Santiago Castro. Ricky Adam.They don’t exactly […]

St. Patrick's Dhyne Cotin tries to elude the long reach of New Westminster's Djorde Komar in the quarterfinals of the 2025 B.C. Junior Boys Basketball championships played Sunday at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Garrett James property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2025. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

No. 2 St. Pats earns BC junior Final 4 berth as patient game plan enough to hold off No. 7 New West Hyacks

LANGLEY — Basketball purists love to wax on about our beautiful game, and tell the stories about how it’s one of the last places where no opposition advantage is ever too great for a little ingenuity and a self-belief to overcome.Yet when the team in question turns out to be the too often times vertically-challenged […]

Salish Wolves' guard Wyatt Schweizer finds the going tough against Vancouver College during Sweet 16 round action at the 2025 B.C. junior boys basketball championships on Saturday at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letter 2025. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

B.C. Junior Boys Saturday Sweet 16! Game reports as 32-team pool whittled down to it’s Great 8!

LANGLEY — Welcome to the second half of what has been one of the most parity-filled opening rounds in the recent history of the B.C. junior boys basketball championships here at the Langley Events Centre. Seeds Nos. 1-5, along with Nos. 7 and 8 managers to survive the first round, but you may notice from […]

Thor Sturgeon of the Similkameen Spartks battles the No. 1-ranked Argyle Pipers for a rebound Saturday during the opening round of the 55th annual B.C. junior boys basketball championships at the Langley Events Centre. Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letter 2025. All Rights Reserved)Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letter 2025. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

B.C. Junior Boys Hoops! Opening round updates from Day 1 of the 55th annual championships at the LEC!

BY HOWARD TSUMURAVarsity LettersLANGLEY — We now have complete details from the opening round of the B.C. junior boys basketball championships currently in progress at the Langley Events Centre.Before we get to today’s 16 opening-round contests, here’s tonight’s quarterfinals (note first games start at 4 p.m. as per Group 2)TOP HALF DRAWGROUP 15:30 p.m. — […]

Oak Bay's Simon Wiwcharuk-Burr defends Dover Bay's Van Suiter in the championship final of the Kodiak Classic in November at Port Moody's Heritage Woods Secondary. (Photo by Howard Tsumura exclusive property of VarsityLetters.ca 2024. All Rights Reserved)
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From Nanaimo-Oak Bay 1978 to the hoops madness of 2025: As an epic Vancouver Island 4A tourney tips Thursday, Ken Shields and a cast of others reflect on bookend similarities almost 50 years apart!

LANGLEY — Vancouver Island’s trio of Quad-A senior boys Top 10-ranked basketball teams in this, the 2024-25 season, are the single most dominant such bunch from one top-tiered zone in the entire history of the boys game in B.C.There… I said it.Not than anyone ever yells at me any more, but I think I can […]

South Kam's Cruz Parsons (left) and Yeseong Cho of Fleetwood Park meet in the half court during Day 1 action in the TBI Select 16 bracket Dec. 4, 2024 at the Langley Events Centre. Fleetwood Park sits at No. 21 in the latest SRS 50 provincial ratings. (Photo by Howard Tsumura exclusive property of VarsityLetters.ca 2024. All Rights Reserved)