Deven Johal (left) of the Kelowna Owls looks to avoid the outstretched shot block attempt of Vancouver College's Ashton Wong during third-place clash at the Kodiak Classic Invitational hosted 11.30.24 by Heritage Woods Secondary School in Port Moody. (Photo by Howard Tsumura exclusive property of VarsityLetters.ca 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

TBI Boys 2024: Vancouver College comes to TBI ready to shoot the three! Inspired Irish, under head coach Shams, not weighed down by program’s lengthy B.C. title drought!

PORT MOODY —  On Saturday night, just a handful of hours away from the clock striking December, the Vancouver College Fighting Irish basketball team put on a demonstration of passing, three-point shooting… and the contagious nature of shared smiles.The occasion was the third-place game of the Heritage Woods Kodiak Classic senior boys tournament, and as […]

As the crowd watches, Dover Bay's Frank Linder is guarded by Oak Bay's Diem Orser during championship game action at the Kodiak Classic Invitational hosted 11.30.24 by Heritage Woods Secondary School in Port Moody. (Photo by Howard Tsumura exclusive property of VarsityLetters.ca 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

TBI Boys 2024: Quad-A No. 2 Dover Bay, MVP Frank Linder headline Wednesday at Tsumura Basketball Invitational after topping No. 4 Oak Bay in Kodiak Classic title clash!

PORT MOODY — Funny thing how the truly great games all seem to have that one moment which goes on to serve as its handle for future reference.This past Saturday night, midway through the fourth quarter of the final game of the first week of the new B.C. senior boys high school basketball season, fans […]

Doing his best to slow Semiahmoo forward Jack Snead (left) is St. Patrick's Riley Santa Juana during fifth-place game action at the Kodiak Classic Invitational hosted 11.30.24 by Heritage Woods Secondary School in Port Moody. (Photo by Howard Tsumura exclusive property of VarsityLetters.ca 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Ahead of its Tsumura Basketball opener Wednesday at LEC, Triple-A No. 2 St. Pat’s puts its three-point DNA on display during fifth-place finish at Kodiak Classic!

PORT MOODY — The proliferation of, and reliance on the three-point shot is certainly the grand separator when today’s game is contrasted against a generation past.And yes, we get it, that’s no news flash.Yet while so much has changed from even those turn-of-the-century days when the NBA still called this city home, there are still […]

Simon Fraser's Sophia Wisotzki splits the Tampa post defence during action between the host Red Leafs and visiting, No. 4-ranked Spartans Nov 3, 2024 at CCA Div. 1 Canadian Tip-Off Classic at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo exclusive property of Varsity Letters via VL Sports Services 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

SFU women’s basketball notebook: The rise of senior Sophia Wisotzki to NCAA D-2’s No. 2 scorer, plus West Region tidbits and all there is to love about the Red Leafs’ press!

BURNABY — Simon Fraser’s Sophia Wisotzki is more used to making the news every time she brings her dynamic two-way game to the court this season for the Red Leafs’ basketball team.On Wednesday night, however, she had the news delivered to her.“Oh, I didn’t know that,” the 6-foot senior guard and kinesiology major admitted when […]

SFU guard Irish Coquia has made a smooth transition from high school at East Vancouver's St. Patrick's Regional, to the NCAA Div. 2 ranks with the Red Leafs. (Photo by special request for VarsityLetters.ca. All images remain property of Varsity Letters 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Baseball

Simon Fraser’s Irish Coquia: As backcourt injuries mount, former St. Pat’s star comes of age in NCAA behind career-high 34 points, 10 assists in Red Leafs’ 2-OT win!

BURNABY — Soloist and conductor.The wheel of attrition has ground down especially hard on the Simon Fraser men’s basketball team over the first month of its 2024-25 season.And as its ranks have thinned at the guard spots, the Red Leafs’ urgency to get performance from one of its youngest players has grown exponentially over the […]

During a timeout Saturday on his way to his 600th overall win at UBC is 'Birds head coach Kevin Hanson. Afterwards, he remarked "...I continue to tell coaches that you have to celebrate every win because you never know when your next one is going to happen." (Photo by Richard Lam property of UBC athletics 2024. All Rights Reserv
Feature University Men's Basketball

A Sunday Read: As UBC’s Kevin Hanson becomes fifth member of U Sports’ 600-win hoops club, the ‘Birds 25-year head coach reflects on what brings true meaning to milestone moments!

VANCOUVER — On a night when Kevin Hanson joined one of the most exclusive coaching fraternities in all of U Sports men’s basketball, there was still no confusing the fact that nothing worth celebrating had ever been earned in a vacuum.Yet don’t misunderstand just how much it meant to the UBC head coach that his […]

Spectrum's Justin Hinrichsen (13) rises to the occasion on defence in last March's B.C. Quad-A title game. The Thunder open the new season at No. 1. (Photo by Garrett James property of Langley Events Centre 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

BC Boys Top 10 preseason rankings: 2024-25 to tip off with Spectrum, MEI, Collingwood, Unity topping the charts!

LANGLEY — Top 10 time is back.The B.C. School Sports provincial pre-season high school Top 10 rankings for senior boys basketball have just been released, and as expected, its two largest tiers reflect the respective geographical strengths of two of the province’s time-honoured regions.At Quad-A, three of the top four spots are held by Vancouver […]

Derek Christiansen was one of the UBC Thunderbirds' top scorers during its 1990-91 season, including its No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown in Victoria. (Photo property of UBC Athletics 1991. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

What? It’s been 33 years! Indeed, it’s been since Jan. of 1991 that UBC has faced Victoria in a No. 1 vs. No. 2! Ahead of weekend clash, let’s all take a trip in Howie’s Hoops Time Machine!

VANCOUVER — If you asked the basketball gods to describe the perfect weekend of men’s university basketball in the province of British Columbia, they would tell you it’s beyond words.But they’d also let you know that if  you want to see it live and in-person, all you’ve got to do is head to UBC’s historic […]

UBC's Nikola Guzina drives to the basket against the Trinity Western Spartans in Canada West action Nov. 3 at War Memorial Gymnasium. (Photo by Richard Lam property of UBC athletics 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

UBC men’s basketball 2024-25: With its “equal-opportunity system” thriving, No. 2 Thunderbirds clash with visiting, No. 1 Vikes as eyes of Canadian university hoop world focus on War Memorial Gym!

VANCOUVER — It’s mid-November, his UBC Thunderbirds have already played 16 games… and won them all.“But I still don’t know who our best five guys are when it comes to playing the best together,” head coach Kevin Hanson explained following practice Wednesday.With his No. 2 nationally-ranked ‘Birds set to play host to the No. 1-ranked […]

Click on our links inside to get high-resolution draws for all four pools at the 2024 boys and girls TBI, once again set for the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball High School Girls Basketball

TBI 2024: All four tournament brackets, complete with full game times, for December’s boys and girls Tsumura Basketball Invitationals at the Langley Events Centre!

(NOTICE TO ALL TEAMS — As of Sunday, Dec. 1 we have made slight alterations to all four boys and girls TBI draws, with Friday semifinals for both the Super 16 and Select 16 draws being staged consecutively in the same gymnasium. Please note this change to the schedule). Basketball fans, you can start to plan […]