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, […]
Tag: Howard Tsumura
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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. — […]
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 […]
B.C. boys hoop ranks 02.19.25 edition: Quad-A Top 10 predicts tight Island, VSS and S. Fraser zone finals!
LANGLEY — There’s four zones represented in the Top 10 of the B.C. Quad-A rankings released Wednesday, and if their order counts for anything, it should guarantee three excellent zone championships on Vancouver Island, within the Vancouver Sea-to-Sky and in the South Fraser.Kelowna from the Thompson-Okanagan remains the lone outlier in the Top 10.Oak Bay, […]
A little left, a little right… OK, perfect! UBC’s Mona Berlitz finds her true basketball centre in the presence of team! Her journey from Germany to Vancouver now pointed at run to Final 8 national spoils!
VANCOUVER — When it comes to conversing, German is always going to be her native language.Yet there’s two others that UBC Thunderbirds’ 6-foot third-year forward Mona Berlitz seems to be able to speak with equal fluency.One is the English language and the other is the language of basketball.Put them all together and nothing gets lost […]