Brothers in battle! UBC's Toni Maric (left) and Simon Fraser's Roko Maric eye a rebound off a missed free throw during 2025 Buchanan Cup game played Nov. 15, 2025 at SFU's West Gym. (Photo by Roy W. Hui 2025. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Buchanan Cup 2025: As UBC beats Simon Fraser in the 38th edition of the ‘Crosstown Clash’, we celebrate the Brothers Maric as a symbol of the game’s enduring ties to the B.C. hoops community!

By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caBURNABY MOUNTAIN — No word yet if Toni Maric ever let the Buchanan Cup out of his hands on Saturday night after he and his UBC Thunderbirds topped the host Simon Fraser Red Leafs 66-54 in the 38th edition of the crosstown basketball brouhaha.Who knows? Maybe the ‘Birds 6-foot-8 fifth-year forward took it […]

The hoops at the Langley Events Centre await B.C.'s best high school players at the 2025 Tsumura Basketball Invitationals next month. (Photo property of Wilson Wong 2025. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball High School Girls Basketball

TBI 2025 Tip-off times now set: Complete four-day Tsumura Basketball Invitational brackets for boys and girls Super 16 and Select 16 pools now posted ahead of December tip-offs!

LANGLEY — Let the true official countdown to two weeks of high school basketball madness at the Langley Events Centre officially begin.Today we present the two seniors boys and two senior girls draws which make up the 2025 Tsumura Basketball Invitationals set run over the first two full weekends of December, beginning with the boys […]

Who's playing who at TBI 2025? We've got the full boys and girls brackets right here. Exact game times to follow. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball High School Girls Basketball

Tsumura Basketball Invitational ’25 draw release: Here are all four senior boys and girls brackets for our 2025 TBI tournaments set to tip off in December at the Langley Event Centre!

LANGLEY — The very best of B.C. senior boys and girls high school basketball is on its way to the Langley Events Centre over the first two weeks of December.Today, we present the four draws which will make up the Super 16 and Select 16 draws as the 2025 Tsumura Basketball Invitationals.All of the precise […]

Ken Shields and five members of the 1979-80 Victoria Vikes pose among the native splendour of the provincial capital. Pictured clockwise left to right: Ted Anderson, Gerald Kazanowski, Rene Dolcetti, Billy Turney-Loos, Ian Hyde-Lay. (Photo property of Victoria Vikes athletics 2025. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

‘Twas the night before B.C.’s, and our greatest coach ever offers his best winning wisdom!

By HOWARD TSUMURA(Varsity Letters)(Quick links to all four championship draw included below)LANGLEY — On the night before the start of the 79th annual B.C. senior boys basketball tournament, as 64 teams spread out over four tiers take their championship dreams to bed for one more sleep, we thought we’d go straight to the source for […]

Unity Christian got a big push from King's Christian but the defending champs won and have advanced to Final Four Friday at the LEC's Centre Court. (Photo by 250226--Gordon Kalisch, Fasttracksportsphotography 2025. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

FINAL: 02.27.25 Day 2 reports from the 2025 B.C. senior girls SINGLE-A Final Eight round!

BY GARY AHUJA(Courtesy Langley Events Centre)1A TournamentUnity Christian Flames 42 King’s Christian Thunder 37Back and forth for the first three quarters – the game was tied on eight separate occasions with neither team ahead by more than four – the defending champion Unity Christian Flames scored six straight points to open the final period, defeating […]

The LEC officially kicks off high school basketball championship season the B.C. junior boys tournament opens a four-day run Saturday. The B.C. senior girls tournament follows beginning Wednesday. (Photo property Varsity Letters 2025. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball High School Girls Basketball

B.C. tourney time! Your schedules for B.C. junior boys, B.C. senior girls at the LEC!

By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caLANGLEY — It’s eight straight days of B.C. high school basketball championship action beginning Saturday morning at the Langley Events Centre, and we’ve got the provincial tournament draws for all five events right here!~First, the B.C. Junior Boys 32-team championship draw gets underway Saturday through Tuesday.Here’s the complete tournament draw:2025JrBoysDrawThat will be followed […]

Terry Fox's Jayson Imani and the rest of Port Coquitlam's Ravens bring a young core to the fore this season under veteran head coach Rich Chambers in the Super 16 draw at the 2024 Tsumura Basketball Invitational Dec. 4-7 at the LEC. No. 10-seeded Fox faces No. 7 Kelowna in its opening-round clash. (Photo by Garrett James property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

TBI Boys 2024: Who’s playing who in both 16-team draws at Tsumura Basketball Invitational? We’ve got the full draws right here for the LEC’s preseason spectacular!

LANGLEY — It’s time to start the official countdown to the tip-off at the 2024 boys and girls Tsumura Basketball Invitationals, once again set to run front and centre over the first two weeks of December at the Langley Events Centre.Today, we will present the draws for the boys TBI (Dec. 4-7) which includes both […]

Miah Schuurman drives past Credo Christian during Day 3 Final Four play at the 2024 B.C. senior girls basketball championships March 1, 2024 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Mark Steffens property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

SINGLE-A B.C. girls Final Four 2024: Miah Schuurman catches fire for Flames, pours home 36 points as blue-collar Unity Christian pulls upset for BC finals berth!

No. 8 Unity Christian Flames 49 No.5 Credo Christian Kodiaks 37LANGLEY — The Unity Christian Flames are not about the glitz, glam, or fashion.The Flames play gritty, tough basketball and head coach Kyle Smiens fully embraces his team’s mentality.“We’ve been grinding out games all year,” he said following his No. 8-seeded team’s 49-37 upset win […]

Lord Byng point guard Eli Mullin (left) drives past Brookswood's Logan Stewart on Day 1 at the 2022 Tsumura Basketball Invitational Dec. 7 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2022 All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

B.C. Boys Basketball Top 10 Ranks 01.11.23 edition: The rise of the Oak Bay Bays & Brookswood Bobcats, plus Tammy’s ‘Cats surge to JV No. 1!

BURNABY — The first set of Top 10 rankings for B.C. senior boys high school basketball have arrived for 2023, and Surrey schools have surged in the largest Quad-A tier.Here’s the lastest from our B.C. pollsters at all four tiers for Jan 11, 2023:BASKETBALLTOP 10 RANKINGSB.C. SENIOR BOYSQUAD A1 Semiahmoo Thunderbirds (Surrey) (SF) (LW -1)2 […]

Lord Byng point guard Eli Mullin (left) drives past Brookswood's Logan Stewart at the 2022 Tsumura Basketball Invitational Wednesday at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2022 All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

12.7.22 edition: B.C. senior boys basketball’s latest Top 10 rankings from Quaud-A to Single-A are right here!

The latest Top 10 rankings for B.C. senior boys high school basketball have arrived for Dec. 7, 2022:BASKETBALLTOP 10 RANKINGSB.C. SENIOR BOYSQUAD A1 Semiahmoo Thunderbirds (Surrey) (SF) (LW -1)2 Vancouver College Fighting Irish (VSS) (2)3 Burnaby South Rebels (FN) (3)4 St. George’s Saints (Vancouver) (VSS) (4)5 Abbotsford Panthers (EV) (5)6 Oak Bay Bays (Victoria) (VI) […]