Burnaby South fans may well get a chance to enjoy another of these rare moments as the Rebels will enter the 2018-19 season as the clear B.C. Quad A title favourite. (Photo by Wilson Wong, UBC athletics)
Walnut Grove guard James Woods had a game-closing performance for the ages Wednesday at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters)
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Gators’ HC Reid Taylor on star guard James Woods game-winning performance: “Just get out of the way and let him do his thing”

LANGLEY — It had previously been information for Walnut Grove insiders-only, but given the drama of the moment, Reid Taylor couldn’t hold back.“What we say on this team is 95 and 5,” began Taylor in the moments after his senior guard James Woods grabbed an opening-round match-up here at the 2018 B.C. senior boys AAAA […]

St. George's Saints players celebrate their B.C. junior boys basketball title win over Lord Tweedsmuir on Tuesday at the LEC. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca)
High School Boys Basketball

When the going gets late, the Saints get going as St. George’s pivotal run topples Tweedy in B.C. junior boys finale

LANGLEY — In the game of basketball, not all game-ending runs are created equally. Some come in the midst of blow-outs, while others are a part of rallies that come up short. Put one together that comes over the final 3:30 of a game in which a provincial title hangs in the balance, however,  and you’ve got […]

St. George's Sam Wooder set a benchmark for mental tenacity in Saints' win over Vancouver College on Monday for a berth in Tuesday's B.C. junior boys final. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca)
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Sudden Sam helps St. George’s soldier past Fighting Irish and into Tuesday’s B.C. junior boys title tilt

LANGLEY — The St. George’s Saints graduating Class of 2020 has done a pretty fair job of holding its own against their basketball peers at Vancouver College.

St. George's Jaxon Cohee helped carry the Saints past Handsworth and into a B.C. Final Four meeting Monday against arch-rival Vancouver College. (Varsity Letters photo by Howard Tsumura)
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Saints vs. Irish: Just like the big boys, this junior varsity rivalry reaches B.C. Final Four with a fever pitch

LANGLEY — It was appointment viewing this past Friday when a sold-out crowd braved the snow and filled the Richmond Olympic Oval to its limit.We’re talking, of course, about St. George’s vs. Vancouver College, and in grand, late-season basketball tradition, Friday’s senior varsity clash for the Lower Mainland AAAA title, won by the Irish, will […]

Tupper's Mathew Dunkerley (left) and Benny Bradford make life tough for Burnaby Mountain's Joao Coimra during Sweet 16 round action at the B.C. junior boys basketball championships Saturday at the Langley Events Centre. (Varsity Letters photo by Howard Tsumura)
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B.C. junior boys basketball at its Elite 8: Irish, Hawks, Royals, Saints, Tigers,Bulldogs and a pair of Panthers

LANGLEY — We’re down to eight teams in the chase for the 2018 B.C. junior boys basketball title, and we’ve only finished the first of four days!Sunday’s championship round quarterfinal schedule:TOP HALF DRAW3:30 p.m. — Vancouver College vs. Seaquam (South Court), Handsworth vs. St. George’s (Centre Court)BOTTOM HALF DRAW2 p.m. — Sir Charles Tupper vs. […]

Vancouver College's Levi Dvorak, blocking out against South Kam's 6-10 Ripley Martin earlier this season, was a difference maker Friday as the Fighting Irish repeated as Lower Mainland AAA champs with a win over St. George's at the Richmond Oval. (Varsity Letters file photo by Howard Tsumura)
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Van College’s Levi Dvorak: Irish senior conducts a symphony in rebounding en route to 4A Mainland title win over Saints

RICHMOND — Levi Dvorak shares a surname with one of classical music’s giants of symphonic composition. And while Vancouver College’s Dvorak, at 6-foot-3, may not have been gifted as a giant to do the kind of work he does in the trenches for the Fighting Irish, there is no doubt that the senior lifted the art […]

A packed house watched Burnaby South defeat Sir Charles Tupper in last season's BC JV final at the LEC. (Varsity Letters photo by Howard Tsumura)
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Fighting Irish, Tupper Tigers take top two seeds into 2018 B.C. Junior Boys Basketball Championships

LANGLEY — Welcome to March Madness, February style.The B.C. junior boys basketball championships is, by the odds, the toughest high school basketball title to win, given it’s open-tiered, 32-team format.Vancouver College’s Fighting Irish go in with the No. 1 seed while its public school rivals, East Van’s Sir Charles Tupper Tigers, go in at No. […]

St. George's Saints guard Jerric Palma (right) has carried the load over his Grade 11 season and on Wednesday faces the Vancouver College Fighting Irish. (Photo courtesy Jon Hayduk/St. George's athletics)
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Jerric Palma: Tipping the scales through tenacity, St. George’s plucky guard has learned to carry his weight for the Saints

VANCOUVER — In the time reserved for preparation, those quiet pre-game moments where each player is left to his own devices, Jerric Palma finds a place where he can bring his heart and mind together in a single, perfect sphere.