In the opening round, held in Langley: …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Surrey Semiahmoo Thunderbirds blasted the 16th-seeded Cranbrook Mount Baker Trojans 116-52 after leading 32-12, 56-20 and 94-34 at the quarters. Thunderbird guard Andre Judo told Varsity Letters that the squad was better prepared for the tournament. “I think the big thing was last year we got really tired. This year we have made sure that we are preserving our bodies, so we do workouts before and after every game. … And a lot of us have started to meditate. We had a guest speaker come in and it was pretty inspirational. He explained meditation, how he would visualize the game, and then try to bring it all to fruition. So we started to do it, and it makes you calm. You visualize victory.” Torian Lee paced the Thunderbirds with 18, including four treys. Jack Snead added 14, Marcus Flores 12, Cole Bekkering 11, Joban Dhillon 9, Ethan Dhillon 8, Andre Juco 8, Mateo Mihalia 8, Jodhan Waraich 7, Maddox Budiman 7, Jack Clayton 5, Marcus Alstad-Jones 3 and Wyatt Brown 3, while Guneev Dhillon, Pravin Dosanjh and Riccardo Cervetti were scoreless. Hayden Damstrom scored 18 to pace the Trojans (coach Ron White, coach Shawn Marlow, athletic director Kaley Wasylowcih). Patryk Bendowski added 10, Sam Jones 9, Gavin Segarty 7, Austin Cory 4, Adam McDonaugh 3 and Austin Pidskalny 1, whil Zoe Pailande, Davy Larson, Sam Akinlusi, Charlie Nelson, Nathan McKenzie, Chase Gingrich and Karson Green were scoreless. …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded Port Coquitlam Terry Fox Ravens crushed the 9th-seeded West Vancouver Highlanders 70-45. The Highlanders led 12-11 after one quarter. The Ravens led 27-25 at the half and 47-40 after three quarters. Ravens coach Rich Chambers told Varsity Letter that “we were so good defensively today.” Highlanders coach Paul Eberhardt said that “when they went to man-to-man, that is what hurt us most. When we ran our cuts, they put a body on us, they got in our way and our guys didn’t react properly. Things that we know to do, we didn’t do. It’s unfortunate when you’re a team that relies on shooting, and you don’t hit any shots… it’s tough to pull it out and my God, did (Terry Fox) defend. That is a hell of a defensive team.” Lukas Bulin and Brenndan Nightingale each scored 16 to pace the Ravens. Bulin nailed four treys. Christian Moore added 14, Sukhraj Garcha 11, Ethan Chae 10, Parker Kennedy 2 and Matteo Frost 1, while Ryan Marchand, Frank Angeles, Noah Labrador, Darius Kerti, Jesse Marchand, Maksym Cichecki and Nicolas Perez Gorczynsky were scoreless. Calvin Kuzyk scored 16 to pace the Highlanders (coach Paul Eberhardt, assistant Navid Panah, assistant Phil Kuzyk). Max Ndlovu-Fraser added 11, Mathieu Thiel 6, Zeyad Ahmed 5, Harris Cameron 3, Finn Chapman 2 and Josh Sanagan 2, while Finley Bate-Smith, Edward Fitzgerald, Malcolm Lotz, Radin Akbari, Benji Thiel, Stirling Wallace, Paul Jesic and Cassius Gregorian were scoreless. …………………………………………………… The 13th-seeded Surrey Elgin Park Orcas stunned the 4th-seeded Vancouver St. George’s Saints 67-63 after leading 21-17, 37-30 and 49-46 at the quarters. The Orcas moved up to the 4A division during the season. “I guess we’re a 13 seed,” coach Kirk Homenick told Varsity Letters. “We’re just a little suburban team from South Surrey. … We were just trying to hang in with the big boys here today.” Orca forwards Dylan Homenick and Adam Olson dominated the paint. Saint Will Hyland knotted the score at 50 with 7:47 to play but the U.B.C.-bound Olsen scored nine straight, including a pair of and-ones, then fed Homenick in the blocks, where he was fouled and hit a pair from the line to give Elgin Park a 64-57 lead with 1:46 to play. Hyland answered with back-to-back treys to draw the Saints with 64-63 but the Orcas hit their free throws down the stretch to pull out the win. “We did a great job finding our bigs early and it really changed the way they had to adjust to us and it really gave us the perimetre today,” said coach Homenick, adding that his son “elevated so high this past year, he went through some injuries last year and this year, he developed a great back-to-basket game. He owned the boards today. I mean, I am a proud parent.” Homenick also praised Hyland’s efforts. “No matter how much film you watched, he still got into the paint, didn’t he? He hit a couple of big threes in the fourth, too. He had a heck of game and we had our hands full with him.” Adam Olsen led the Orcas with 30. Evan Castle added 12, player of the game Dylan Homenick 12, along with 20 boards, Mattix Harrison 6, Connor Gill 4 Davis McDonnell 2 and Mohan Gill 1, while Josh Reay, Lucien Yammine, Nate Funke, Kai Nagamatsu, Shawn Johal and Jahan Gill were scoreless. Will Hyland scored 29 to pace the Saints (coach Guy Dasilva, assistant Chase Ruttenberg, assistant Lashawn Axon, assistant Wade Zhang, athletic performance Lisa White, trainer Calvin Pihoc, athletic director Chris Blackman). Isaac Brown added 13, Robert Orr 7, Josh Coleman 6, Blake Wardell 4, Dominic Aquino 2 and Kevin Zhong 2, while Bill Zhang, Keaton Okennedy, Charlie McConville, Hayden Rogers, Lucas Butler and Luke Sebestyen were scoreless. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Kelowna Owls spanked the 12th-seeded Victoria Claremont Spartans 79-60 after leading 20-14, 38-29 and 55-42 at the quarters. The Owls took command with a 10-2 run to start the second half. Owls coach Harry Parmar told Varsity Letters that his troops were motivated by watching Vancouver St. George’s opening round loss. “Sometimes it’s good for the kids to see that right before they play. They go ‘Oh-oh, we don’t want this to happen to us’. It wakes them up.” Nash Semeniuk paced the Owls with 23. Walker Sodaro added 18, Owen McParland 15, Max Gainey 6, Ayrton Daniels 4, Nate Smith 4, Kayden Boersma 3, Nami Maleki 2, Warrick Crumb 2 and Lincoln Wagner 2, while Zacharia Maylor, Jack Waterhouse and Will Keyes were scoreless. Arjun Sangha and Camden Sparkes each scored 17 to lead the Spartans (coached by Brandon Dunlop). J. Elijah Helman added 11, Luke Neary 6, Gavin O’Sullivan 6, Mikah Smith 2 and Joshua Carson 1, while Josh Adey, Davyn Volnik, Tyson Buckham, Nico Vickers, Dak Awor and Jake Byatt were scoreless.
…………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Surrey Fleetwood Park Dragons torched the 11th-seeded Abbotsford W.J. Mouat Hawks 75-47 after leading 18-16, 36-29 and 54-44 at the quarters. The Dragons took command with a 19-0 run to start the final quarter. Dragons coach Nick Day told Varsity Letters that the success of Surrey-based teams wasn’t a fluke. “The sheer population and the number of kids playing. Surrey is now one of the strongest cities in the province for basketball talent and that is showing up this week. … The South Fraser is a beast, and I think if you look at the league, there’s some very good teams — like Elgin Park and Holy Cross — that are not here but could very well be. Give Mouat credit, they are a very scrappy team and well coached and (head coach) Rich Ralston does a great job. But we just had to stay with our tempo and push the ball when we could and just up the intensity and the defence just a little. After that we were able to get out and run and play our game.” Aaron Uppal paced the Dragons with 25. Eesher Singh Sarai added 13, Inder Deol 12, Izaec Oppal 11, Rohan Dhanoa 6, Jodhin Bhangoo 5 and Jovin Heir 3, while Armaan Gill, Aadil Mazhar, Karan Billen, Karan Sran, Udham Sangha, Harjap Sangha, Gabby Intalan and Shaun Sandhu were scoreless. Alvin Swarup scored 16 to pace the Hawks (coach Rich Ralston). Armaan Sandhu added 14, Nathan Sam 8, Liam Byrne 6 and Balpreet Sidhu 3, while Joven Brar, Tieg Mifflin, Amrit Grewal, Mantaj Gill, Trey Luesley, Jesse Krahn, Harshawn Dhaliwal, Jerry Gillingham, Marek Guynup, Prit Brar, Jot Toor, Parm Dhaliwal and Dylan LeBlanc were scoreless. …………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded Vancouver College Fighting Irish dispatched the 14th-seeded Surrey Tamanawis Wildcats 84-69. The Fighting Irish led 19-16 after one quarter. The score was knotted at 34 at the half. The Fighting Irish led 54-47 after three quarters. The Fighting Irish got their transition game on track in the second half and closed out the affair with a 10-4 run. “We came out with low energy and they came out with so much more, pressing us, playing our game,” said Irish guard Mikyle Malabuyoc told Varsity Letters. “We need to start out the way we play instead of letting them dictate the tempo.” Irish coach Mer Marghetti attributed the slow start to “a long day, first-day jitters, maybe not the best warm up and then you just come out flat. I think you have to find the balance between excitement and composure. Come out too excited, you won’t have composure. But you try to be relaxed, then you won’t have the energy. So they struggled to find that energy with the excitement, because they were trying to be composed.” Mikyle Malabuyoc paced the Fighting Irish with 25. Roko Maric added 16, Isaiah Bias 16, Charles Menard 11, Vince Velasquez 7, Freddie Sale 5 and Aidan Lear 2, while Finn Teasdale, Emilio Sida, Mikey Joseph, Alex Galin, Keanan Grant, Ivan Krivokapic, Gianluca Tognetti and Thomas Manganini were scoreless. Tejveer Sanghera paced the Wildcats with 20. Sartaj Bhangu added 19, Seva Virk 15, including four treys, Ranvir Sanghera 4, Jordan Hare 4, Rohan Sharma 4 and Gursewak Mann 3, while Gurpreet Dodd, Jas Chahal, Jayden Rai, Surkhab Dhillon, Jaideep Dhillon, Saneh Dhaliwal and Sunny Dhami were scoreless. The Wildcats (coach Manny Dulay, assistant Harleen Dulay, assistant Par Bains, assistant Aurel David) also included Gurshan Sran and Tray Belanger. …………………………………………………… The 7th-seeded Abbotsford Senior Panthers clipped the 10th-seeded Port Moody Heritage Woods Kodiaks 85-76 after leading 14-10, 36-31 and 58-48 at the quarters. Panthers forward Dilveer Randhawa said the team was determined to avoid another opening round loss. “I have remebered that since last year,” Randhawa told Varsity Letters. “It was my Grade 11 year, and we had seniors on that team that wanted to make a deep run. I took it personally because for my Grade 10s and 11s on this team, I wanted to be a good mentor, and get as far as we can. Every day we had that goal in mind to just work, work, work.” Randhawa scored 14 in the final quarter, including a critical trey with 1:40 to play, while hitting 12-15 from the line during the match. The Panthers closed out the affair with 10 free throws. “I knew I had to get to the rim because my shot wasn’t falling early,” Randhawa said. “So I knew getting to the rim and getting contact and getting to the free throw line was my best option.” Randhawa paced the Panthers with 38. Hayden Sansalone added 24, Harshan Alamwala 10, Ethan Sena 6 and Bavanjot Rai 4, while Maxum Sidhu, Sunic Alamwala, Kabir Bhangal, Tymal Liaver, Justin Menning and Sahil Kingra were scoreless. Liam Twa scored 27 to pace the Kodiaks (coach Andrew Lloyd, assistant Roj Johal, assistant Greg Schellenberg, assistant Alex Devlin). Kai Rawnsley added 20, Carter McCauley 11, Aidan Lloyd 6, Cole Marr 5, Aidan Wilkie 5 and James Tasker 2, while Grayden Boyko, Bryan Kang, Brenna Chan, Johnny Sidal, Qhalil Abdiwahid, Joseph Thompson, Yen Teng and Sepehr Jafary were scoreless. …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded Victoria Oak Bay Bays stomped the 16th-seeded Prince George Polars 102-54 after leading 27-13, 48-23 and 71-34 at the quarters. Bays coach Chris Franklin told Varsity Letters that his troops “can defend. … The fellas, they have bought into what we’re doing.” Bays guard Griffin Arnatt said “our main focus is defence. That is what we see ourselves as, but I think anybody on our team can go out there and score 20 points. I haven’t seen the stat sheet, but I think six or seven guys must be over 10 points.” Thomas Beames paced the Bays with 17. Finley Lillis added 14, Matthew Magnan 11, Toren Franklin 9, Diem Orser 8, Griffin Arnatt 6, Owen Lewis 5, Griffin Mawson 4, Kasper Giesbrecht 4, Sawyer Wishlow 4, Heath Taylor 4 and Isaac Budgell 3. Gage Cooke scored 15 to pace the Polars (coach Tyler Burbee, assistant Natalie Heinze, assistant Dennis Stark, athletic director Jasen Florell). Deakon Anderson added 9, Kavan Varaich 8, Jack Brown 8, Rynoor Thandhi 3, Ethan Gilbert 3, Everett Muratori 3, Chet Moore 1 and Harsh Cheema 1, while J.B. Burguillos and Cole Sumners were scoreless.
In the quarterfinals, the 6th-seeded Surrey Fleetwood Park Dragons stunned the 3rd-seeded Vancouver College Fighting Irish 89-71. The Fighting Irish led 17-16 after one quarter. The Dragons led 36-34 at the half and 61-51 after three quarters. Dragons coach Nick Day told Varsity Letters that “we’ve played VC in I think the last five years in the junior or senior B.C.’s, and come up short every time. There’s been some good battles. … We were confident coming in. We felt if we played the way we wanted to play, we could get it done.” Dragons guard Aaron Uppal said “it goes really deep for us, and we knew that we had to get them this year, for sure. Every time we’ve seen them, it’s been in the quarter-finals, actually. When I saw the draw, I just knew we were showing up for this game and that this was going to be our time. There’s no better time to show up and play hard than this, right here.” Izaec Oppal hit three treys late in the first half as the Dragons took a slim lead. They opened the third quarter with a 13-4 run to stretch the lead to double digits before Finn Teasdale and Mikyle Malbuyoc notched treys to trim the margin to 67-62. But the Dragons answered with a 5-0 run and coasted to the win. “We’re a team where we’re so talented individually, a problem for us all season has been utilizing each other, trusting each other, playing together as a team,” Uppal said. “This game, we really honed in on playing together. Moving the ball was key for us, running out in transition and trusting each other was big. Aaron Uppal paced the Dragons with 20. Inder Deol added 18, Eesher Singh Sarai 17, Rohan Dhanoa 17 and Izaec Oppal 17, while Armaan Gill, Aadil Mazhar, Karan Billen, Jovin Heir, Karan Sran, Jodhin Bhangoo, Udham Sangha, Harjap Sangha, Gabby Intalan and Shaun Sandhu were scoreless. Isaiah Bias scored 25 to pace the Fighting Irish. Roko Maric added 19, Finn Teasdale 17, Mikyle Malabuyoc 6, Michael Joseph 4, Charles Menard 4 and Aidan Lear 3, while Freddie Sale, Vince Velasquez, Emilio Sida, Alex Galin, Keanan Grant, Ivan Krovokapic, Gianluca Tognetti and Thomas Manganini were scoreless. The Fighting Irish (coach Mer Marghetti, assistant Trixie Cruz, assistant Siamak Salehi, assistant Toni Maric, assistant Doug Beers, manager Jacob Mallari, manager Liam Sayers, manager Ricardo Ayalew, manager Marko Militec) also included Matthew McNeil.
The 2nd-seeded Victoria Oak Bay Bays clubbed the 7th-seeded Abbotsford Senior Panthers 95-77 after leading 25-13, 46-30 and 70-53 at the quarters. The Bays lockdown defence, particularly that of Griffin Arnatt on Panthers star Dilveer Randhawa proved the difference, Varsity Letters reported. “We came in with a better game plan of helping and shading and putting pressure on him [Randhawa], said Arnatt. “But I got to give him props because even at the end of the game, he hit like four threes. It could have gone either way, but luckily we won.” Bays coach Chris Franklin said “Griff is a really good defender and super long. We were really trying to crowd him on the catch and force him to bounce to the nearest help and kind of try and figure it out a little bit from there because we knew if we gave him any space, he is the kind of guy that if one goes in, then it’s two and then it’s all heck breaking loose.” Griffin Arnatt paced the Bays with 39. Owen Lewis added 19, Diem Orser 8, Heath Taylor 7, Toren Franklin 5, Finley Lillis 4, Kasper Giesbrecht 4, Matthew Magnan 4 and Thomas Beames 3, while Griffin Mawson, Isaac Budgell and Sawyer Wishlow were scoreless. Hayden Sansalone scored 29 to pace the Panthers (coach Greg De Vries, assistant Paul Peters, assistant Malcolm Campbell, assistant Brent Ciochetti, assistant Devin Brar, assistant Prentice Lenz, assistant Elmore Abraham). Dilveer Randhawa added 23, Sanil Kingra 18, Justin Menning 4 and Ethan Sena 3, while Bavanjot Rai, Maxum Sidhu, Sunil Alamwala, Kabir Bhangal, Tymal Liaver and Harshan Alamwala were scoreless.
The top-seeded Surrey Semiahmoo Thunderbirds mauled the 8th-seeded Port Coquitlam Terry Fox Ravens 89-56 after leading 24-11, 53-24 and 79-36 at the quarters. The Thunderbirds took command with a 14-0 run to close out the first quarter. Thunderbirds coach Les Brown told Varsity Letters that his troops misfired on a few opportunities “but it was pretty close to a really perfect game for us.” Ravens coach Rich Chambers said “they are very good, we knew that. And we’re very disappointed with how we played tonight. They physically just took us out of everything. … There were No X’s and O’s there, they just just kicked the crap out of us. I think they went 13-for-19 from the three. They are just deep and good.” Torian Lee, Marcus Flores and Cole Bekkering each scored 20 to pace the Thunderbirds. Lee notched 6 treys. Joban Dhillon added 8, Jodhan Waraich 7, Andre Juco 6, Markus Alstad-Jones 4, Jack Clayton 4 and Jack Snead 2, while Ethan Dhillon, Wyatt Brown, Guneev Dhillon, Pravin Dosanjh, Mateo Mihaila and Maddox Budiman were scoreless. Sukhraj Garcha scored 15 to pace the Ravens (coach Rich Chambers, coach Brad Petersen, coach Mark Prinster, manager Ernie Vickers, athletic director Rhonda Trunkfield). Christian Moore added 12, Matteo Frost 6, Brenddan Nightingale 5, Ryan Marchand 4, Lucas Bulin 4, Noah Labrador 4, Ethan Chae 2, Darius Kerti 2 and Nicolas Perez- Gorczynsky 2, while Frank Angeles, Parker Kennedy, Jesse Marchand and Maksym Cichecki were scoreless.
In the last quarterfinal, the 5th-seeded Kelowna Owls nipped the 13th-seeded Surrey Elgin Park Orcas 72-69 as guard Owen McParland took a return pass from Nash Semeniuk off an inbounds play and banked in a 33-foot bomb with 0.5 seconds remaining on the clock. “I just saw the clock and threw the ball up hoping that it would go in,” McParland told Varsity Letters. Semeniuk said “I trusted him, I knew he was my best shooter, and said ‘I got to get it to him,’. That was a lot of emotions, man. We were winning and I was so happy, then they shot and its tied and you’re down. But you trust your teammates, and you get the win.” Orcas coach Kirk Homenick said “you get to that point and … they get the ball in, take a couple of dribbles and Hail, Mary, there it goes. … But it wasn’t pure. He didn’t call ‘bank’.” With the score knotted at 67, Semeniuk stole the ball from 6-7 Orca guard Adam Olsen for a runout layup. The Orcas knotted the score when post Dhlan Homenick found Olsen for a 14-foot baseline jumper with 3.8 seconds to play, setting the stage for McParland’s winner. Owls coach Harry Parmar said “with their size, they gave us problems but we’d grind and grind and find a way. We missed bunnies and free throws early, but we thought that our pressure would get to them.” The Owls led 26-24 after one quarter. The Orcas led 36-34 at the half and 52-50 after three quarters. Nash Semeniuk paced the Owls with 17. Walker Sodaro added 12, Owen McParland 11, Max Gainey 9, Nate Smith 8, Kayden Boersma 4, Warrick Crumb 2 and Ayrton Daniels 2, while Zacharia Maylor, Jack Waterhouse, Nami Malecki, Will Keyes and Lincoln Wagner were scoreless. Adam Olsen scored 28 to pace the Orcas (coach Kirk Homenick). Dylan Homenick added 19, Max Harrison 7, Kai Nagamatasu 4, Lucien Yammine 3, Evan Castle 3, Nate Funke 2, Josh Reay 2 and Mahan Gill 1, while Davis McDonnell, Shawn Johal, Jahan Gill and Connor Gill were scoreless.
In the semis, the top-seeded Surrey Semiahmoo Thunderbirds dusted the 5th-seeded Kelowna Owls 96-68 after leading 34-12, 53-30 and 79-53 at the quarters. Thunderbirds coach Les Brown told Varsity Letters that “we haven’t shied away from anything. We know the target’s been on our back all year. We’ve been up at the top of the rankings. We want that title. We’re not shy about it. (Other teams) have got to come and get us. We’ve been honest about it. On the back of our warmups for this tournament, we’ve got ‘It’s all Uphill From Here.’ So we know that the next game is the most important and we’ve got to achieve that and just try to still be hungry.” Thunderbird Cole Bekkering said the team’s confidence was a function of its work ethic. “It’s just like how many reps we take every day, how much time we’re in the gym altogether. The more you’re in the gym, the more confident you’re going to be on the court in big moments. We’re all here for the big moments and everyone showed up today.” The Thunderbirds took total command with a late 16-4 first quarter run that featured a trio from beyond the arc by Torian Lee, as well dominance of the pain by Bekkering and Marcus Flores. “Their bigs killed us,” said Owls coach Harry Parmar. “We just didn’t have a whole lot to offer against them today. (Will Keys) dislocated his knee bone nine days ago. It might have been different if we’d had him around. … In the first five or seven minutes, we just didn’t play with a lot of composure. When you turn it over on them, they get the easy layups. And your heads go down and it just kind of snowballs. Truthfully, it was over after about seven minutes.” The Thunderbirds outrebounded Kelowna 46-37 and committed 15 turnovers to the Owls 24. Cole Bekkering led the Thunderbirds with 27. Marcus Flores added 20, Torian Lee 19, Andre Juco 11, Jodhan Waraich 6, Maddox Budiman 4, Jack Clayton 4, Ethan Dhillon 3 and Joban Dhillon 2, while Wyatt Brown, Markus Alstad-Jones, Guneev Dhillon, Pravin Dosanjh, Matteo Mihaila and Jack Snead were scoreless. Nash Semeniuk paced the Owls with 31. Nate Smith added 14, Kayden Boersma 7, Owen McParland 6, Warrick Crumb 5, Walker Sodaro 4 and Lincoln Wagner 2, while Zacharia Maylor, Jack Waterhouse, Nami Malecki, Max Gainey, Ayrton Daniels and Will Keyes were scoreless.
In the other semi, the 6th-seeded Surrey Fleetwood Park Dragons defeated the 2nd-seeded Victoria Oak Bay Bays 73-67. The Bays led 15-11 after one quarter. The Dragons led 30-27 at the half and 53-43 after three quarters. Izaec Oppal, who hit 7-11 from the arc, notched a trey to give the Dragons and 61-47 lead. The Bays rallied no closer than six. Dragons coach Nick Day told Varsity Letters that “I thought we played one of our best defensive games of the year, similar to how we played them in December. We shot the ball with confidence and we dug in, and that is resilience. And that is what I love about this group.” Dragon Aaron Uppal said “it did take us a while but we all knew what had to be done. We trusted each other … that, and being a family is what got us to get firing on all cylinders. We covered each other’s mistakes and helped each other out, and once we got it going, we got it going.” Day noted that “they say you live and die with the three. … That is not completely us. We’ll take our opportunities when they are there, we are not afraid to put it up, but today was more about defence. Oak Bay is an amazing team and to hold them under 70 points says a lot about our team.” Izaec Oppal and Aaron Uppal each scored 24 to pace the Dragons. Eesher Singh Sarai added 14, Inder Deol 5 and Rohan Dhanoa 5, while Armaan Gill, Aadil Mazhar, Karan Billen, Jovin Heir, Karan Sran, Udham Sangha, Jodhin Bhangoo, Harjap Sangha, Gabby Intalan and Shaun Sandhu were scoreless. Griffin Arnatt paced the Bays with 20. Matthew Magnan added 11, Toren Frnaklin 10, Thomas Beames 8, Finley Lillis 7, Owen Lewis 6, Heath Taylor 3 and Kasper Giesbrecht 2, while Griffin Mawson, Isaac Budgell, Sawyer Wishlow and Diem Orser were scoreless.
In the bronze medal match, the 2nd-seeded Victoria Oak Bay Bays edged the 5th-seeded Kelowna Owls 71-66. The Owls led 25-19, 44-37 and 56-53 at the quarters. Griffin Arnatt paced the Bays with 39. Thomas Beames added 9, Toren Franklin 7, Kasper Giesbrecht 6, Heath Taylor 3, Finnley Lewis 2 and Matthew Magnan 2, while Griffin Mawson, Isaac Budgell, Sawyer Wishlow, Diem Orser and Owen Lewis were scoreless. Nash Semeniuk scored 26 to pace the Owls (coach Harry Parmar, assistant Brad Heuser, assistant Jay Johnstone). Walker Sodaro added 19, Warrick Crumb 7, Nate Smith 6, Ayrton Daniels 5, Max Gainey 2 and Kayden Boersma 2, while Zacharia Maylor, Jack Waterhouse, Nami Maleki, Owen McParland, Will Keys and Lincoln Wagner were scoreless.
In the final, the top-seeded Surrey Semiahmoo Thunderbirds dusted the 6th-seeded Surrey Fleetwood Park Dragons 71-40 after leading 16-13, 36-22 and 60-32 at the quarters. The Thunderbirds took command in the second quarter as their pressure defence began generating a raft of turnovers for runouts. They bridged the half with a 22-1 run. Torian Lee ignited the run with a trey. Cole Bekkering then notched a live ball steal off Aaron Uppal into a coast-to-coast lay-in. Lee nabbed a long rebound and raced the floor for a layup. Guard Jodhan Waraich then made a steal and fed Bekkering for a layup as the Thunderbirds closed out the half with a 9-0 run. Lee drained a trey and Bekkering a pair of treys as the Thunderbirds opened the second half with a 13-1 run. a lay-in as part of a first-half-closing 9-0 run. Post Marcus Flores told Varsity Letters that “our defence translates right to offence. Tonight, we’d get stops and go right through into our transition breaks. Getting all those steals gets us easy offence and it all starts with our defence. Today, the boys played amazing.” Defensive player of the tournament Andre Judo said “I always feel like I put it all out there on the floor every day. Every time you go out there you can make a difference on every play. Whether it’s an offensive or a defensive rebound, or getting a box out so that your teammate can get a rebound, it doesn’t matter.” Guard Jodhan Waraich said “what is more important than the steal is to maintain possession after that steal. Keeping possession in the second half tonight is what enabled us to keep our lead.” Lee said “I don’t think the scores were indicative of how challenging the games were. Although there was a large difference we still had to work for those wins. It showed they were good teams because we had to bring our best to beat them.” Thunderbirds coach Les Brown said that watching a replay of their 2022 finals loss to Burnaby South taught the team to play with focus and intensity. “They were hungry, they wanted the ball, and we used that as motivation all year, knowing that we had to be the tougher team, hungry for every possession, especially in a game like this: possession is gold, and you have to take care of the ball. … We just pushed the tempo a bit, and to be honest, Fleetwood looked like they were getting tired. They had two grueling games against Vancouver College and Oak Bay, that was tough coming out of that bracket. It helped us a little bit that they were looking tired in that second quarter.” Dragons coach Nick Day said “it starts with turnovers. If you don’t take care of the ball against this team, they are so athletic they will punish you. … They have great defensive activity in the half court. And when they get their hands on the ball, and they get out and run, they are the best team in the province. You have to play a near-perfect game to have a shot.” Player of the game Cole Bekkering paced the Thunderbirds with 26, while nabbing 12 boards. Torian Lee added 18, along with 9 boards and 5 assists, Andre Juco 10, Jack Clayton 6, Jodhan Waraich 4, Marcus Flores 4, Joban Dhillon 2 and Maddox Budiman 1, while Ethan Dhillon, Wyatt Brown, Marcus Alstad-Jones, Guneev Dhillon, Pravin Dosanjh, Matteo Mihaila and Jack Snead were scoreless. Inder Deol paced the Dragons with 25. Eesher Singh Sarai added 7, Rohan Dhanoa 6, Aaron Uppal 6, Izaec Oppal 4 and Jovan Heir 2, while Armaan Gill, Aadil Mazhar, Karan Billen, Karan Sran, Udham Sangha, Jodhin Bhangoo, Harjap Sangha, Gabby Intalan and Shaun Sandu were scoreless.
The all-tournament 1st team featured MVP Torian Lee (Semiahmoo); Cole Bekkering (Semiahmoo); Aaron Uppal (Fleetwood Park); Nash Semeniuk (Kelowna); Adam Olsen (Elgin Park); and Griffin Arnatt (Oak Bay).
The 2nd-team featured Andre Juco (Semiahmoo); Marcus Flores (Semiahmoo); Izaec Oppal (Fleetwood Park); Hayden Sansalone (Abbotsford) and Mikyle Malabuyoc (Vancouver College).
The bronze medalist Victoria Oak Bay Bays: Griffin Arnatt; Thomas Beames; Toren Franklin; Kasper Giesbrecht; Heath Taylor; Finley Lewis; Matthew Magnan; Griffin Mawson; Isaac Budgell; Sawyer Wishlow; Diem Orser; Owen Lewis; Oliver Scott; coach Chris Franklin; assistant Wendy Draper Maffia; assistant Diego Maffia; manager Enjo Behrens
The silver medalist Surrey Fleetwood Park Dragons: Inder Deol; Eesher Singh Sarai; Rohan Dhanoa; Aaron Uppal; Izaec Oppal; Jovan Heir; Armaan Gill; Aadil Mazhar; Karan Billen; Karan Sran; Udham Sangha; Jodhin Bhangoo; Harjap Sangha; Gabby Intalan; Shaun Sandu; Arjan Chauhan; coach Jordan Taylor; coach Nick Day
The champion Surrey Semiahmoo Thunderbirds: Cole Bekkering; Torian Lee; Andre Juco; Jack Clayton; Jodhan Waraich; Marcus Flores; Joban Dhillon; Maddox Budiman; Ethan Dhillon; Wyatt Brown; Marcus Alstad-Jones; Guneev Dhillon; Pravin Dosanjh; Matteo Mihaila; Jack Snead; Riccardo Cervetti; coach Les Brown; assistant Johnson Hu; assistant Riley Barker; assistant Rory Brown; manager Jerry Lee; manager Jaden Samra; athletic director Tony Chio