LANGLEY — Welcome to Quarterfinal Thursday here at the 2025 Tsumura Basketball Invitational.
We’ve gone final for the night. You can read all four of our game reports here. Thanks to Gary Kingston, Gary Ahuja and Wilson Wong for their help tonight in producing this report.
SELECT 16
(Centre Court)
DRAW A
COLLINGWOOD 76 BRENTWOOD COLLEGE 67
By GARY KINGSTON (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – Collingwood is a perennial contender at the B.C. high school boys basketball championships. So, too, is Brentwood College.
Unfortunately they’re in different tiers, so after two, highly-competitive clashes to start the 2025-26 season, we’ll be denied what could have been a barn-burning matchup in March at the provincials.
Collingwood, from North Vancouver, staged a furious fourth-quarter rally from 13 points down on Thursday to beat the Vancouver Island school 71-67 in a quarterfinal at the TBI Select 16 tournament at the Langley Events Centre.
The win avenged a two-point loss to Brentwood a week ago in a tournament at Victoria’s Lambrick Park. The Cavaliers actually hit two three-pointers in the final nine seconds of that one to give themselves a chance to pull out a late win.
At the TBI, Brentwood, which led 41-32 at halftime and 55-48 after three quarters, opened the fourth with a surprise three-pointer from board-crashing forward Jaxen Lust, then stretched the lead to 63-51 before Collingwood found its defensive chops.
“We know Brentwood runs a very structured system and we were playing a zone trying to disrupt their man offence,” said Collingwood head coach Andy Wong. “We knew we needed something, a chance of pace, so we put in a (different) defence that’s pretty intense and clearly it created some chaos and we were able to take advantage of that.”
All-court pressure and a swarming intensity on the ball helped limit Brentwood to just four points over the final seven minutes.
Offensively, the Cavaliers got a big second half from five-foot-11 guard Elliot Neil, who had 17 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, including a bunch from the free throw line.
“It’s unbelievable because when we start putting in that full-court pressure, you usually can’t do that for long spurts and (McNeil) had been playing almost the whole game,” said Wong. “He’s such a calm, composed player. He did everything defensively and then, offensively, he’s still able to hit his shots.
“He’s on the court with so much quiet confidence and that’s something we feed off of.”
Fellow Grade 12 guard Peter Huang had 25 points, with 18 of them coming off shots from behind the arc.
“We’ve got so many guys who can score,” said McNeil. “We were running in transition . . . and I was lucky to get out in front of the ball and score.
“We lost to them a week ago, so we were hungry for a win. We’re happy to get it.”
But that won’t be what would have been a highly-anticipated rubber match this season, which is fine by Wong.
“I’m happy to not see another matchup with Brentwood,” said Wong. I think the world of how they run their program there.”
Jaxen Lust led Brentwood with 17 points, while Jackson Lenarcic and Kang Cho each chipped with 13.
L.A. MATHESON 89 RICHMOND 73
By GARY KINGSTON (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – There hasn’t been a lot to crow about at the senior boys level for the L.A. Matheson basketball team in recent years.
But buoyed by some seasoned Grade 12 talent that got a taste of success at the junior boys level in 2024 (lost in the B.C. semifinals), the Surrey-based Mustangs do have the look of wild horses ready to stampede through this season and make their presence felt at provincials in March.
Ranked No. 5 in the Triple A tier in the first rankings, Matheson made it two wins in a row at the TBI Select 16 tournament with an 89-73 quarterfinal victory over the Richmond Colts on Thursday. That followed a complete 75-54 pasting of the Windsor Wolves, the defending 3A B.C. champs, in the opening round.
“Richmond’s in our division, South Fraser,” said Matheson head coach Tyler Ram. “They actually eliminated us last year in the semifinals of the South Fraser, so we know they’re a tough out.”
It was a back and forth game through three quarters even though the Mustangs never gave up the lead after opening up an early 8-0 advantage. But after the Colts closed to within seven points early in the fourth quarter, Matheson went on a 9-0 run to seize control before closing out the contest on a 6-0 run.
The Mustangs were led by 23 points from Jeven Sanghera. Fellow Grade 12s Jashan Mahal and Damien Onokpite added 18 and 13, respectively.
“We’re a small, inner-city school in Surrey,” said Ram of Matheson’s profile. “We have only three 3A schools in Surrey, so it is nice to have a school from the inner-city here playing on the big stage playing basketball at the TBI and, hopefully, at provincials in March.
Ram believes there is enough talent, commitment and drive on this year’s Mustangs team to make a statement.
“These guys work, they’re shooting in the morning, they’re a pleasure to coach, they’re great kids and they’re really motivated to get (to provincials).
Sanghera said that as good as the offence has been at the TBI, he’s equally excited to see how hard the team is working defensively, whether it’s man-to-man or a diamond.
“We’ve been working on it a lot in practice, it’s one of the main things we work on. It’s the hard work, that’s where it comes from.”
Tomiwa Aderinto led the Colts in scoring with all of 17 points coming the second half. Justin Chen added 16.
DRAW B
ST THOMAS MORE 69 PACIFIC ACADEMY 63
By GARY KINGSTON (Special for Varsity Letters)
LANGLEY – In many ways, the Pacific Academy Breakers and St. Thomas More Saints senior boys basketball teams are mirror images.
So it was hardly surprising that their hotly-contested TBI Select quarterfinal on Thursday night went to overtime before the Knights pulled out a 69-63 win.
Incredulously, the Breakers finished with just seven players when three, including a couple of starters, packed up their bags and left Centre Court at Langley Events Centre to attend, of all things, an orchestra commitment just as the extra five-minute session began.
“We had them until 730p, what can you do?” shrugged Pacific co-head coach Joel Ashbee.
But tubas and trombones aside, it’s hoops we’re concerned about.
Both rosters are chock full of Grade 11s, with only three Grade 12 players on each team, so both teams are trying to determine just one week into the 2025-26 season exactly who they are. And besides six-foot-seven Logan Ball with STM and six-foot-five Michael Lyu with Pacific, both teams are short (pardon the pun) of any significant length.
But while Pacific, the reigning 2A B.C. champs are No. 1 in the pre-season rankings, STM, who lost in the final of last year’s TBI Super 16, are unranked in 3A.
“It’s real early in the season and no offence to anybody, but we really don’t pay attention to rankings anyway,” said STM head coach Denzel Laguerta. “We just focus on ourselves and try to get better every day.”
Getting better has meant leading his young Knights through two close games in two days at the TBI. On opening day Wednesday, STM, clinging to a one-point lead, got a huge three-pointer from Grade 10 sharp-shooter Vidak Nikolic to earn a 67-65 win over Rick Hansen.
Against the Breakers, they got a mid-range jumper and a free throw from Nikolic in the final minute to force the overtime. In the overtime, Ball opened it with an offensive rebound put back, then converted in tight off a tremendous assist from Nikolic. The ensuing and-one made it 66-60 for the Knights. Grade 12 guard Diego Gonzalez iced it with a three-pointer with 44 seconds remaining.
“Real close games for us,” said Laguerta. “It’s not good for my heart, but it’s good for the kids and their experience. They hang tough.”
Nikolic led STM with 21 points, while Ball added 16 and was a huge presence on the boards.
“He was great,” Laguerta said of Ball. “I keep telling him that if he can keep his mind straight, he can be one of the best in the province. He had two early fouls and I kind of lashed out at him because we need him on the court.
“I told him to stay headstrong. I’m really proud of him.”
Judah Ashbee led Pacific with 23 points, with Jessie Babs-Ishola, one of those who left at the start of overtime, added 13.
KING GEORGE 56 vs. WELLINGTON 41
By GARY AHUJA (Special for Varsity Letters)
The King George Dragons endured a rough start on Thursday night, falling behind 18-3 late in the first quarter of their quarter-final clash with the Wellington Wildcats. With a semi-final berth at stake, a well-timed timeout settled the team down.
“Coach called timeout and basically got us to calm down. He told us to trust our systems and that we’d eventually come through,” said Grade 11 guard Abud Shawwa. “We had good looks early, but the shots weren’t falling. We knew we just had to stick with it.”
The Dragons responded with a late bucket to end the first quarter, then opened the second with 13 straight points. By halftime, the game was tied at 22, and King George carried that momentum through the second half, finishing with a 56-41 victory.
Defence fueled the comeback: the Dragons held Wellington to just four points in the second quarter and then six in the fourth, a combined 10 points over 20 minutes of game action.
“As long as we hustle and defend, it doesn’t always matter if our shots aren’t falling,” Shawwa said.
Rei Ikeda led King George with 26 points, while Shawwa added 18. Wellington’s Jackson Peters finished with 23.
