LANGLEY — Welcome to Quarterfinal Thursday here at the 2025 Tsumura Basketball Invitational.
Check back here throughout the evening for game reports from all four games on the championship side of the Select 16 draw as teams chase a berth in the Friday’s round of Final Four.
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
6:15 p.m. — PACIFIC ACADEMY vs. ST. THOMAS MORE
7:45 p.m. — KING GEORGE vs. WELLINGTON
