Wellington's Grade 10 forward Grayson Ritzand is still just 15 years old, yet he's already scored 1,000 points at the senior varsity level. He's pictured dunking here during the 2023 Tsumura Basketball Invitational played this past December at the Langley Events Centre (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Grayson Ritzand: At age 15, here’s the origin story of Nanaimo-Wellington’s iron-pumping, semi-ambidextrous star Grade 10 forward who’s already surpassed the 1,000-point senior varsity scoring mark!

NANAIMO — Ask Grayson Ritzand to tell you the story of how he has become a chiseled, semi-ambidextrous senior varsity forward with level of maturity which seemingly overshadows even his own voluminous scoring average, and it almost seems like you’re privy to plot lines of some comic book super-hero origin story-in-the-making.That’s the feeling you get […]

Vancouver College's Roko Maric (right) and Finnley Lillis of Oak Bay met each other in the semi-finals of the 2022 B.C. junior boys championship semifinals. This season, a new group of Bays and a new group of Irish sit Nos. 2-3 in the final JV Top 10 of the season.. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2022. All Rights Reserved)
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BC Junior Boys Hoops Top 10: It’s 17 days and counting to championship tip-off at the LEC! Will form hold for an St. Pat’s vs. Oak Bay final? Let the madness begin as the chase for 32 berths is heating up!

LANGLEY — The B.C. junior boys basketball championships tip off on the final Saturday of February.That’s Feb. 24, or 17 days.Here’s the final Top 10 of the season as the official stretch drive to provincials is under way. Of note, only four ranked teams from last week survived the cut to remain in the final […]

Santa Margarita's Mason Hawker (left) guards Byrne Creek's Justin Pimintuan during opening day action from the 2023 Tsumura Basketball Invitational this past December at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Wilson Wong protected image 2023. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C. Boys Top 10 basketball rankings 02.06.24 edition: Byrne Creek burns it up! Bulldogs take down St. Pat’s North Delta, Lord Byng to win Rick Hansen tourney and move into Triple-A No. 1!

LANGLEY — It was a relatively quiet week atop the upper reaches of the B.C. senior boys high school basketball world.Quiet, that is, unless you happen to be the Triple-A Byrne Creek Bulldogs.The Burnaby-based Bulldogs made about as definitive a late-season statement as is possible outside of league and zone playoffs, beating three straight ranked […]

The power and the fury of UBC's Brian Wallack, laying down a dunk earlier this season against the Victoria Vikes at War Memorial Gym. (Photo by Bob Frid property of UBC athletics 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

UBC’s Brian Wallack: As his final weekend at War Memorial Gym beckons, the ‘Birds seven-year man espouses his recipe for success as “…I just decided to keep it really simple”!

VANCOUVER — It’s tough to fully quantify because there really isn’t a standard set of metrics you can apply to the question of just who the most improved player in the last quarter century of UBC Thunderbirds men’s basketball really is.Yet when you throw all of the ingredients required into that figurative stew pot of […]

Jordyn Nohr and the rest of Langley's Brookswood Bobcats take over No. 1 at Triple-A with the B.C. tourney three weeks from an opening tip at the LEC.
Feature High School Girls Basketball

B.C. girls Top 10 basketball rankings 02.05.24: Seaquam moves back into Quad-A final four territory, Brookswood’s baby Bobcats take over Triple-A No. 1!

LANGLEY — Here’s a look at the latest B.C. senior girls high school basketball rankings at all four tiers courtesy of B.C. School Sports:FEB. 5QUAD-A1 Riverside Rapids (Port Coquitlam) (FN) (LW-1)2 Argyle Pipers (North Vancouver) (VSS) (2)3 Yale Lions (Abbotsford) (EV) (3) 4 Seaquam Seahawks (North Delta) (SF) (5) 5 Okanagan-Mission Huskies (Kelowna) (TOK) (4)6 Burnaby Central […]

Dover Bay's 6-foot-7 Grade 11 Frank Linder has helped his Dolphins claw back to No. 3 in the B.C. boys Triple-A rankings this week. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2023. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C. Boys Top 10 basketball rankings 01.31.24 edition: Ready for March Madness? This week, 36 overall ranking slots change teams across four tiers of Top 10 polls! Parity runs rampant across the province!

LANGLEY — Absolute insanity.That’s the only way to describe how extreme parity has brought a fragile state of affairs to all four tiers of the B.C. senior boys basketball Top 10 rankings.How topsy-turvy did it get?From last week’s total of 43 overall Top 10 rankings slots (3A, 2A and 1A each featured ties for the […]

SFU Red Leafs' guard Aram Dulai (right) with former teammate Sophie Klassen during the 2022-23 season. (Photo by Gordon Kalisch property of FastTrackSportsPhotography and SFU athletics 2024. All Rights Reserved)
SFU Red Leafs' guard Arman Dulai is the first women's basketball player in SFU's NCAA era to earn a spot in the team's starting line-up as a walk-on player. (Photo by Gordon Kalisch property of FastTrackSportsPhotography and SFU athletics 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

SFU women’s basketball: Arman Dulai puts her stamp on Red Leafs’ red-letter day as first walk-on starter in team’s NCAA era!

BURNABY — When it comes to beating the odds during this current decade-plus NCAA era of Simon Fraser women’s basketball, Arman Dulai may well have everyone beat.When the 5-foot-9 junior guard from Surrey found out that she was going to be announced in the starting line-up for this past Saturday’s home game against Seattle Pacific, […]

Lucy Xu (right) and the rest of West Vancouver's Mulgrave Titans continue to keep their grip on No. 1 in the B.C. senior girls Double-A rankings. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

B.C. girls Top 10 basketball rankings 01.29.24: As the calendar turns towards February, it’s the powers that be — Riverside, SMUS, Mulgrave — who hold serve!

LANGLEY — The clearest indication yet that the top teams in B.C. senior girls basketball are settling in for the final stretch drive to playoffs?The province’s three largest tiers all issued new Top 10 rankings this week, and the top four at all three remained unchanged.Here’s a look at the latest courtesy of B.C. School […]

Back in 2019, en route to being named B.C. senior boys Quad-A MVP, Lord Tweedsmuir's Arjun Samra led his team to the provincial title. This week, Tweedy hoops sit at No. 4 in the most recent rankings, it's biggest share of the spotlight in almost five full seasons. (Photo by Wilson Wong copyright 2019. All rights reserved)
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B.C. Boys Top 10 basketball rankings 01.24.24 edition: Tweed is back in fashion! Surrey’s Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers, unranked two weeks ago, top Tammy in RCMP final to grab Quad-A Top 4 poll position!

LANGLEY  — If you bought stock in the Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers a couple of weeks ago, you’ve been rewarded for your faith.Over a two-week span, Surrey’s formerly-unranked Panthers have rocketed skyward in the B.C. Quad-A Top 10, from No. 7 last week to now, No. 4 in the most recent provincial rankings.Lord Tweedsmuir edged former […]

A veteran's veteran, North Delta's Bill Edwards, serving as a consultant and assistant coach this season under head coach Jas Hothi, prowls the sidelines this past December at the 2023 Tsumura Basketball Invitational staged at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property Varsity Letters 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Bill Edwards Appreciation Night: “Once a Husky, always a Husky” seems custom-coined for one so steeped in North Delta hoops history! On Thursday, it’s time to say ‘Thank You, Bill’ to the Dean of the ‘Dawgs!

NORTH DELTA — If you had to identify his place on the family tree of North Delta Huskies boys basketball, you’d first start by imagining the mighty Oak.Then, you’d fix your stare on its weathered trunk.You know, that thick, strong and absolutely unflappable part of a tree, the place where it’s always thickest… the place […]