SFU guard Irish Coquia handled being thrown in the defensive spotlight Thursday in Montana and helped lead his team to its first GNAC win of 2024-25. (Photo by special request for VarsityLetters.ca. All images remain property of Varsity Letters 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

SFU men’s basketball: Offence hard to guard, defence locks down MSU-B’s threes as Howard, Coquia and Red Leafs roll to big win against host Jackets in season’s first GNAC win!

(By HOWARD TSUMURA, varsityletters.ca)Luke Howard’s final basket of the night on Thursday did a lot to prove the notion that the Simon Fraser Red Leafs’ two-game home sweep last week at the hands of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference’s two Alaska schools didn’t come in vain.In fact when Howard set a high screen for teammate […]

Simon Fraser forward Luke Howard has stood tall for the Red Leafs in his first season atop Burnaby Mountain. (Photo by special request for VarsityLetters.ca. All images remain property of Varsity Letters 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Baseball

A Red Leaf’s rising! For Abby’s Luke Howard, seven seasons on the U.S. hoops road leads to a breakthrough homecoming at Simon Fraser as GNAC home slate opens Thursday!

By Howard TsumuraBURNABY — Luke Howard’s climb to reach the summit of his college basketball career has been interminably long, at times undoubtedly lonely and beset with enough re-starts to wobble even the most unflappable of hardcourt warriors.Yet at 7 p.m. on Thursday — seven years, four schools, a global pandemic and a torn ACL […]

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 […]

Simon Fraser's David Penney loves the developing chemistry he's seeing in the Red Leafs. (Photo by by Wilson Wong protected image 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Simon Fraser men’s basketball: With three wins in past four GNAC conference games, veteran guard Penney gives nod to Red Leafs’ developing chemistry as season’s toughest road swing charters north to Alaska!

BURNABY — David Penney’s senior season with the Simon Fraser Red Leafs has included its share of tough times.Yet as his final Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular season winds its way down to its final five games, their is no greater authority to speak to the ever-evolving state of suddenly-percolating Red Leafs.“Last year, we were […]

Simon Fraser Red Leafs Tate Christiansen (left) and Matthys Van Bylandt, a pair of North Vancouverites and Handsworth Secondary graduates, have an emotional and energetic surge to the Simon Fraser Red Leafs in their redshirt-freshman seasons on the hill. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Simon Fraser athletics 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

Rookie Red Leafs rise to new challenges atop Burnaby Mountain! Ex-Handsworth stars Van Bylandt, Christiansen lead with work ethic while their talents begin to shine for Simon Fraser!

BURNABY — A mere three minutes of viewing may not be enough to constitute any kind of a scientific sample size.Yet if you were among the small crowd gathered earlier this month for the CCA Div. 2 Canadian Tip-Off Classic at the Langley Events Centre, you might have at least developed a pretty strong hunch […]

Simon Fraser's Irish Coquia, fresh off leading St. Patrick's to back-to-back B.C. senior boys titles, as well as a junior championship, is working on becoming a complete guard over his debut campaign with the Red Leafs. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Simon Fraser athletics 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Irish Coquia: As Red Leafs tip off vs. Hawaii Pacific, Simon Fraser’s pure freshman standout ready to work on his defence while bringing a ready-to-roll offence to SFU after winning three B.C. MVP awards for St. Pat’s Celtics!

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — I can picture the late, great Lorne Davies smiling a lot these days about a kid named Irish.When the founding father of Simon Fraser athletics planted the pioneering idea of his student-athletes competing against U.S.-based competition upon the school’s opening in 1965, he no doubt harboured a hope that one day SFU […]

Simon Fraser's Sasha Vujisic played a game-changing role over his seven minutes on the floor Friday as the Red Leafs won their first game of the season at the West Region Crossover in Arcata, CA against the host Cal Poly Humboldt Lumberjacks. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of SFU athletics 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Simon Fraser Red Leafs work for biggest comeback win in head coach Steve Hanson’s tenure, as new post Sasha Vujisic brings paint presence in 83-75 win at Cal Poly Humboldt!

ARCATA, CA — Last winter, two years into his studies in computing science at Simon Fraser University while on a ever-lengthening hiatus from the game, big man Sasha Vujisic wandered into the office of Red Leafs’ men’s basketball coach Steve Hanson and asked if he could try and earn a spot on the team for […]

Simon Fraser forward Jahmal Wright is one of only three returning Red Leafs with substantial playing time in 2021-22. SFU unveils its new team on the road Friday as it visits War Memorial Gym to face the UBC Thunderbirds in the Buchanan Cup classic. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of SFU athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

Buchanan Cup 2022: “Coach, you’ve got a lot of new guys…” Simon Fraser Red Leafs face host UBC Thunderbirds on Friday with a new-look team intent on finding some instant karma!

BURNABY — A reporter takes a seat last week in the Burnaby Mountain office of Simon Fraser head men’s basketball coach Steve Hanson, offering an apology ahead of what must be the most obvious observation of all.“Coach, you’ve got a lot of new guys…”Willing to indulge his inquisitor in the playful manner in which the […]

Simon Fraser's Wilfried Balata (10) and Elliot Dimaculangan had plenty to celebrate Thursday after a rally from 22 points down carried SFU to a last-second win over the St. Martin's Saints. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of SFU athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

After frigid start, Simon Fraser rallies from 22 points down to stun visiting St. Martin’s! Says point guard David Penney: “Now we know we have another gear we can get to!”

BURNABY — It wasn’t exactly a first half that you would put alongside the most inspiring in the history of Simon Fraser men’s basketball.In fact, it ebbed low enough about four minutes from halftime that the home team was staring a 22-point deficit straight in the eye Wednesday evening at the West Gym against the […]

Simon Fraser's Josiah Mastandrea had the touch coming off the bench on Saturday, scoring 16 points in a pivotal GNAC victory over Seattle Pacific. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of SFU athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Simon Fraser men’s basketball: Sitting in first place atop the GNAC standings, SFU set to embark on marathon schedule of games over next three-plus weeks!

BURNABY —A famine filled with cancellations has added up to a feast of games for the Simon Fraser men’s basketball team.In what will amount to playing almost a half season of conference games over a span of just over three weeks, SFU opened a gruelling stretch of nine games over a span of 24 days […]