In the opening round, held in Langley: …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Surrey Semiahmoo Thunderbirds clipped the 11th-seeded Kelowna Owls 73-64. The Owls led 17-15 after one quarter and 34-30 at the half. The Thunderbirds led 53-48 after three quarters. Totem’s posts Jack Clayton and Jack Snead dominated the paint. “They are a load to deal with,” Thunderbirds coach Les Brown told Varsity Letters. “They are both fundamentally really sound, and it’s like old-school basketball. It’s fun to watch for me, but maybe not some others. They’re not afraid to take contact and finish.” Clayton said that Snead “has come a long way. He joined us at provincials (last season) but practiced with us most of the time. Even this season in practice we are always on opposition teams and that is what coach Brown does, so I think he learns a lot.” Brown said that Andre Juco did an excellent job of containing Owl gunner Nash Semeniuk, who “is so good. We just said to Andre, ‘You want him? Go take him,’ and I truly believe Andre Juco is one of the best defenders on the ball in the province. He just works his tail off all the time, so we just put our faith him.” Jack Clayton paced the Totems with 28. Jack Snead added 21, Andre Juco 9, Pravin Dosanjh 5 and Mateo Mihaila 2, while Armaan Dulay, Dimitri Pomonis, Ricky Liu, Jaiden Jagpal, Guneev Dhillon, Ethan Dhillon, Jodhan Waraich, Rhys Dobson, Arjun Dulay and Junbo Tang were scoreless. Nash Semeniuk scored 29 to pace the Owls (coach Harry Parmar, assistant Brad Heuser, assistant Jay Johnston). Dominic Sodaro added 11, Zacharia Haylor 11, Zacharia Maylor 11, Tarun Saroya 6, Warrick Crumb 4 and Jack Waterhouse 3, while Jake McParland, Lincoln Wagner, Cuyler Hodges, Logan Parker, Deven Johal and Wells Grundy were scoreless. …………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded West Vancouver Highlanders dispatched the 14th-seeded Langley R.E. Mountain Eagles 67-59. The Highlanders led 27-18 after one quarter and 37-34 at the half. The Eagles led 55-48 after three quarters. The Highlanders closed out the affair with a 19-3 run ignited by treys from Harris Cameron and Calvin Kuzyk, after Eagles posts Eric Nwaubani and Mitchell Evindsen fouled out. “We’ll talk, we understand what we need to do,” West Vancouver coach Paul Eberhardt told Varsity Letters. “We are very experienced but sometimes we revert to old habits and today, we were missing shots and not playing hard on defence. Luckily we corrected that and last six minutes we picked up full-man and I think that turned it for us. I probably should have done it sooner. I let them play too much half-court because we sat in a zone.” Eagles coach Kirk Weiss said “when both of our bigs fouled out, we had no one on the court that could play the five. We couldn’t get rebounds and they got multiple shots on offence. And to their credit, they made ‘em.” Calvin Kuzyk paced the Highlanders with 19. Max Ndolvu-Fraser added 18, Zeyad Ahmed 13, Finn Chapman 10 and Harris Cameron 7, while Jordan Jessop, Finley Bate-Smith, Edward Fitzgerald, Malcolm Lotz, Benji Thiel, Cassius Gregorian, Jake Greenwood, Max Dean, Wesley Cormack and Atila Vadaei were scoreless. Jeremy Liston, Kaizer Nystrom and Soy Ryu each scored 16 to pace the Eagles. Kassem Sbaiti added 8, Mitchell Evindsen 2 and Eric Nwaubani 1, while John Babao, Joe Liang, Keyan Viloria, Michael Baek, Owen Macmillan, Daniel Byun, Elliot Macmillan, Mason Mandzuk and Buo Lee were scoreless. The Eagles (coach Kirk Weiss, assistant Mathew Goroza) also included Federico Paci and Thai Harvey. …………………………………………………… The 7th-seeded Burnaby South Rebels spanked the 10th-seeded Surrey Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers 86-73 after leading 21-4 early and 31-14, 52-41 and 68-56 at the quarters. Diminutive 5-10 guard Lordrikk Gutierrez gave the Panthers fits while bombing 4 from beyond the arc in the first half as the Rebels took command quickly, while post Keoni Sacco dominated the paint. “I just got to be fearless out there,” Gutierrez told Varsity Letters. “I am playing against Goliath every time, and I am David, and I just gotta fight. I gotta bring my all. I gotta trust my teammates and hope that we win.” Rebels coach Mike Bell said Gutierrez “ain’t scared of nobody, that belief is strong. There ain’t nobody in the province he’s scared of. He’s a workhorse. So under-rated, so under-sized and has the heart of a champion. He’s someone you just want to be around, he’s a has positive kind of light and energy.” Gutierrez paced the Rebels with 30. Keoni Sacco added 21, Llorikk Gutierrez 17, Tyler Crossley 14 and Roan Mendoza 4, while Alexei Dosanjh, Matthew Aprim, Izaac Gonzalez, Peter Boudjok, Jayden Issar, Mahtab Rasode, Matteo Di Carlo, Nathan Nowak-Baker and Lorenzo Lucentini were scoreless. Munroop Gill scored 23 to pace the Panthers (coach Raj Bagry, manager Sean Wen, athletic director Brien Gemmell). Tripit Sooch added 15, Apollo Greenlay 11, Trevon Arogie 9, Robert Cook 6, Jayden Creedy 5, Sahib Waraich 4 and Vuvraj Kapil 1, while Nate Smithers, Tej Atwal, Armaan Kingra, Sahil Supra, Joven Sihota, Ryan Zhang and Arjun Kooner were scoreless. …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded Saanich Spectrum Thunder torched the 15th-seeded Prince George Polars 89-56. The Polars led 18-16 after one quarter. But the Thunder opened the second frame with a 14-2 run and led 40-28 at the half and 57-33 after three quarters. “We’ve been slow to start first quarters, I don’t know what it is with these guys and it’s a bit frustrating,” Spectrum had coach Tyler Verde told Varsity letters. “It’s the first time being here in Arena Bowl and then Justin [Hinrichsen] picks up two quick, quick, fouls. So (in-between quarters) we went ‘OK, here we go, you can’t take anybody lightly’.” Prince George coach Joe Luong said preparation for the tournament was problematic. “Our last trip, when we were playing our best basketball, was snowed out, so we never got to compete. We had maybe 40 games this season and we had to travel almost every weekend. They are playing a big pressure games and we don’t get a lot of those up north, so we start making mental mistakes. But Spectrum is very talented and they just wear you down and we start making more and more turnovers. They’re ranked No. 2 for a reason.” J Elijah Helman paced the Thunder with 29. Justin Hinrichsen added 15, Gio De Gracia 12, C.J. Zuno 12, Tyler Felt 10, Harper Kopp 4, Sahil Ark 3, Mateo Williamson 2 and Cadel Jenkins 2, while Arvin Sidhu, Justin Le, Gunnar Barlee, Aris Mariano, Yuvi Atwal and Harkaran Dhah were scoreless. Jules Tersago and Harsh Cheema each scored 13 to pace the Polars (coach Joe Luong, athletic director Jasen Florell). Kavanjot Varaich added 11, Rvnoor Thandi 6, Gage Cooke 5, Kabir Bathal 4, Ethan Gilbert 2 and J.B. Burguillos 2, while Atlin Mogus, Everett Muratori and Conor Burbee were scoreless. …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded Abbotsford Yale Lions edged the 9th-seeded Vancouver St. George’s Saints 100-98. The Lions led 23-20 after one quarter. The Saints led 54-45 at the half. The Lions led 77-64 after three quarters. Lion post Nylan Roberts notched an enormous putback with 1:07 to play and then fed guard Joseph Thoutenhoofd for an insurance layup as Yale pulled out the win. Lions coach Euan Roberts told Varsity Letters that “if we rebound the ball we’re tough to beat. Any team, when they rebound the ball is tough to beat. Over the first part of the game they were killing us on the boards but we picked it up.” Saints coach Guy daSilva said “they are really big and physical. The difference was offensive rebounding all game long. And at the end they were able to get a put-back. No. 8 (Nylan Roberts) simply wanted it, simply willed it a little bit more. I thought Yale played hard. They just battled a little bit more.” daSilva added that Yale guard Aaron Adams proved instrumental in the win. “On the film he really didn’t do too much but that guy had a really good game today. Sometimes guys step up in these big moments. Often times it’s a guy that is sometimes an unsung hero. He really stepped up and made tons of shots in the second half. We just had too many metal breakdowns and in a game like this you can’t have that many.” Taige Rogers paced the Lions with 31. Aaron Adams added 26, Nylan Roberts 26, Isaiah Falk 8, Darius Best 5 and Joseph Thoutenhoofd 4, while Marco Molina, Kavi Brar, Eshaan Sidhu, Tony Guirguis, Imran Brar, Will Chae, Saheb Chahal, Simar Gidda and Kaleb Ginter were scoreless. Dorian Glogovac paced the Saints with 37. Kevin Zhong added 24, Dominic Aquino 18, Charlie McConville 11, Evan Palmer 3, Roman Simmons 2 and Lucas Butler 2, while Kosuke Matsubara, Inno De Cottis, Aryan Sablok, Luke Sebestyen, Joey Geros, Jaever Khunkhun, Max Shen and Brent Lu were scoreless. The Saints (coach Guy DaSilva, assistant Chase Ruttenberg, assistant Lashawn Axon, assistant Wade Zhang, trainer Calvin Pihoc, athletic performance Lisa White, athletic director Chris Blackman) also included Keaton O’Kennedy. …………………………………………………… The 4th-seeded Surrey Tamanawis Wildcats clocked the 13th-seeded Port Moody Heritage Woods Kodiaks 95-52 after leading 21-9, 55-19 and 78-34 at the quarters. Michael Adarkwah-Nti paced the Wildcats with 19. Sartaj Banghu added 11, Arjun Hehar 11, Tejveer Sanghera 10, Sayvic Dhami 9, Sunny Dhami 9, Seva Virk 6, Jordan Hare 6, Gursewak Mann 6, Jayden Rai 6 and Jas Chahal 2, while Pavan Dhillon, Saneh Dhaliwal and Gurjowan Cheema were scoreless. Joseph Thompson paced the Kodiaks with 24. Aidan Wilkie added 9, Ben Pearson 8, Owen Maloney 4, Caleb Park 3, Afu Bullock 2 and Krishan Anantharaj 2, while Brendan Chan, Dylan Wallace, Kai Yoon, Matthew Purdy, Bryan Kang Matthew Dery, Jack Venegas and Jojh Choi were scoreless. The Kodiaks (coach Roj Johal, coach Clay Crellin, athletic director Nikki Rampuri) also included Grayden Boyko, Aaqeel Kassam and Farris Essandoh. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Vancouver College Fighting Irish spanked the 12th-seeded Surrey Sullivan Heights Stars 74-51. The Stars led 15-11 after one quarter. The Fighting Irish led 32-27 at the half and 54-40 after three quarters. Aidan Lear paced the Fighting Irish with 13. Finn Teasdale added 12, Vince Velasquez 11, Gianluca Tognetti 8, Isaiah Bias 7, Andres Garcia 6, Thomas Manganini 6, Marco Mayuga 5, Alexander Galin 4 and Ashton Wong 2, while Cole Pryputsch, Lucas Lee and Lucas Gonzales were scoreless. Ethan Hugall paced the Stars with 17. Yuvraj Grewal added 12, Navin Sidhu 9, Nick Baxter 7, Jacob Oullette 2, Julius De Jesus 2 and Diego Norris 2, while Chase Haydock, Logan McEvoy, Bryce Resuta, Josiah De Jesus, Tyler Steele, Ari Rathor and Hargun Kahlon were scoreless. The Stars (coach Mark De La Cruz, coach Tyler Ram) also included Suraj Bhullar, Aryan Jhaf and Ashvir Mandair. …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Victoria Oak Bay Bays blasted the 16th-seeded Cranbrook Mount Baker Wild 94-42 after leading 37-8, 56-18 and 84-31 at the quarters. Diem Orser and Owen Lewis each scored 14 to pace the Bays. Toren Franklin added 11, Heath Taylor 9, Finley Lillis 9, Corrado Ceretti 8, Thomas Beames 8, Allistair Meyer 7, Chris Wong 6, Ryan Gough 4, Cohen McMillan-Stowards 4 and Jarrah Chadwick-Rupp 3, while Leuan Huggins and Quinn Doerksen were scoreless. Imman Vito and Ty Gauthier each scored 11 to pace the Wild (coach Shawn Marlow, coach Ron White, athletic director Kaley Wasylowich). Kieran Shankowsky added 8, Nathan Mckenzie 6, Chase Gingrich 3, Zoe Pailande 2, Davy Larson 2, Clark Reimer 2 and Joshua Tichauer 2, while Gabe Cory and Prince Dube were scoreless.
In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Victoria Oak Bay Bays torched the 8th-seeded Abbotsford Yale Lions 98-56 after leading 24-9, 42-25 and 64-40 at the quarters. Bays coach Chris Franklin told Varsity Letters that “I don’t know if we took it away as much as we had a pretty solid focus on Nylan and Taige [the Roberts brothers]. And so when someone commits two people to the ball, the other guys have got to make cuts. They had a couple early on but then it kind of faded away. But that’s an awful big load for Nylan to take on. Two guys on every single play, on him early, and if he catches it within 15 feet, we’re coming.” Lions coach Euan Roberts said “they are such a good team… their hands seems to be everywhere, just cutting us off, we just weren’t willing to cut. … Our guys just decided that they were just going to watch Nylan (Roberts). They tripled and doubled him and we were looking for cutters. We had a few guys cut, but we just didn’t have enough movement. … It’s just a willingness to do it, that is the way I look at it. In today’s game, a lot of kids don’t want to go through the key. They love standing on the outside all day. So all season long I’ve been preaching to them that that is where the action is. They had some guys that just clogged it up, our young guys… they are lighter but also they didn’t want to push through the girth of those big guys. They’re 15 (6-7 Owen Lewis) and 13 (Finley Lillis), they were good heavyweights. Taige battled but he could only do so much. They made it tough down there for us.” The Bays hit 13 treys in the match. Heath Taylor paced the Bays with 22. Thomas Beames added 20, Finley Lillis 11, Diem Orser 11, Owen Lewis 10, Toren Franklin 7, Corrado Ceretti 4 and Ryan Gough 4, while Jarrah Chadwick-Rupp, Leuan Huggins, Alistair Meyer, Chris Wong, Quinn Doerksen and Cohen McMillan-Stowards were scoreless. Nylan Roberts scored 24 to pace the Lions (coach Euan Roberts, assistant Ace Brar, assistant Wayne Best, manager Ali Tessarolo) with 24. Aaron Adams added 12, Taige Roberts 8, Isaiah Falk 4, Darius Best 3, Joseph Thouthenhoofd 2, Imran Brar 2 and Simar Gidda 2, while Marco Molina, Kavi Brar, Tony Guirguis, Eshaan Sidhu, Will Chae, Saheb Chahal and Kaleb Ginter were scoreless.
The 4th-seeded Surrey Tamanawis Wildcats dispatched the 5th-seeded Vancouver College Fighting Irish 65-54. The Fighting Irish led 16-11 after one quarter. The Wildcats led 28-27 at the half 47-41 after three quarters. The Wildcats interior defence was so stifling that the Fighting Irish managed just one bucket in thepaint in the second half. “We’ve really amped it up on the defensive end the last month of the season,” Wildcats coach Mike McKay told Varsity Letters. “We’ve been focussing on that because we know we can score when we have to. It’s been our defence that has elevated us to this point. … This year we are eight-to-nine guys deep and we have seven-or-eight guys averaging over eight-to-nine point a game.” Arjun Hehar paced the Wildcats with 20. Sartaj Bhanghu added 17, Gursewak Mann 10, Michael Adarkwah-Nti 9, Seya Virk 5, Jordan Hare 2, Sunny Dhami 1 and Tejveer Sanghera 1, while Sayvic Dhami, Jas Chahal, Pavan Dhillon, Jayden Rai, Saneh Dhaliwal and Gurjowan Cheema were scoreless. Vince Velasquez paced the Fighting Irish with 18. Isaiah Bias added 14, Ashton Wong 7, Thomas Manganini 5, Alex Galin 5, Finn Teasdale 3 and Gianluca Tognetti 2, while Cole Pryputsch, Andres Garcia, Lucas Lee, Marco Mayuga, Aida Lear and Lucas Gonzales were scoreless. The Fighting Irish (coach Ryan Shams) also included Nathan Chen.
The 3rd-seeded West Vancouver Highlanders defeated the 6th-seeded Surrey Semiahmoo Thunderbirds 70-64 after leading 16-15, 38-29 and 48-45 at the quarters. The Thunderbirds drew within 64-62 on a Jack Clayton trey and an inside bucket with 2:08 to play but Highlanders Finn countered with a trey with 49.4 seconds on the clock to ice the win. “We have grown so much this year,” Highlanders coach Paul Eberhardt told Vardity Letters. “We like to run and (play) uptempo … What we’ve learned is we can play any way and it starts with our defence.” Point guard Calvin Kuzyk said “we just knew we had one shot and last year we let it slip away. We felt the same yesterday (in a tough win over R.E. Mountain) but we came together as a team and got it done. We all just believe in each other so much. We’ve been playing together since were in Grade 6 or 7, and we know we can come up big in the moment.” Calvin Kuzyk paced the Highlanders with 36. Finn Chapman added 13, Max Ndolvu-Fraser 11, Harris Cameron 7 and Zeyad Ahmed 3, while Atila Vadaei, Jordan Jessop, Finley Bate-Smith, Edward Fitzgerlad, Malcolm Lotz, Benji Thiel, Cassius Gregorian, Jake Greenwood, Max Dean and Wesley Cormack were scoreless. Jack Clayton scored 26 to pace the Thunderbirds (coach Les Brown, assistant Johnson Hu, assistant Riley Barker, assistant Rory Brown, assistant Colin Plumb, assistant Jake Dhillon, manager Sehej Kocher, trainer and athletic director Tony Chio). Jack Snead added 19, Jodhan Waraich 11 and Andre Juco 8, while Armaan Dulay, Dimitri Pomoniw, Ricky Liu, Jaiden Jagpal Guneev Dhillon, Ethan Dhillon, Pravin Dosanjh, Mateo Mihaila, Rhys Dobson, Arjun Dulay and Junbo Tang were scoreless.
In the last quarterfinal, the 2nd-seeded Saanich Spectrum Thunder spanked the 7th-seeded Burnaby South Rebels 86-66. The score was knotted at 20 after one quarter. The Thunder led 37-30 at the half after a late 9-0 run and 59-48 after three quarters. Thunder coach Tyler Verde told Varsity Letters that “the first thing I said to the guys when we knew we were playing them was that they won’t go down without a fight. … that you have to come ready to go. It’s going to be a dog fight, they are a championship pedigree program and everyone looks at us and they go ‘Who are these guys? They haven’t been here since 1999.’ This is first time in school history we’ve been in the semifinal. … The game plan was to control 13 (Lordrikk Gutierrez). He had 30 yesterday and Justin did a hell of a job on him with his length. He was a monster on defence and they don’t really have a guy that can match up with him so we really tried to deploy that. Then they sent {Keoni) Sacco inside and that left Tyler (Felt) to shoot and people think he won’t shoot those, but he is one of the best shooters on the team. … I said to them there is zero pressure on them. Spectrum has never done this before, it’s their path and they have to set it and they came out and they were dogs right from the very beginning. Some teams might look at us and go ‘They won’t react to that’ but we react really well to that. Where I grew up (Prince Rupert), that is how you play the game and I try to instil that in them.” Felt said “I’ve been working on things quite bit on the perimeter this whole summer and I think I have just been pushing myself to stay out of the post a little and just work on everything in my game.” J Elijah Helman paced the Thunder with 22. Justin Hinrichsen added 21, Tyler Felt 19, C.J. Zuno 11, Harper Kopp 3, Mateo Williamson 3 and Gio De Gracia 2, while Arvin Sidhu, Justin Le, Gunnar Barlee, Cadel Jenkins, Aris Mariano, Evan Enns, Harkaran Dhah and Sahil Ark were scoreless. Keoni Sacco paced the Rebels with 25. Roan Mendoza added 13, Lordrikk Gutierrez 8, Jayden Issar 6, Mahtab Rasode 5, Peter Boudjok 4, Matthew Aprim 3 and Matteo Di Carlo 2, while Alexei Dosanjh, Izaac Gonzalez, Tyler Crossley, Nathan Nowak-Butler, Llorikk Gutierrez and Lorenzo Lucentini were scoreless. The Rebels (coach Mike Bell, assistant Karl Brysch, assistant Cody Cormack, assistant Randy Edwards, assistant Rupi Dahia, assistant Travis Batiste, assistant Greg Matic, assistant Hanz Paloma, assistant Kyle Kirmaci, manager Chelsea lee, manager Sophia Revitt, manager Malik Philip, athletic director Robbie Puni) also included Nhikko Gamueda.
In the semis, the 2nd-seeded Saanich Spectrum Thunder defeated the 3rd-seeded West Vancouver Highlands 59-52. The Highlanders led 14-13, 25-21 and 42-40 at the quarters. The Thunder bridged the quarters with an 11-0 run, including a buzzer-beating trey by Tyler Felt, to take a 46-42 lead. The Thunder led 50-47 when C.J. Zuno notched a trey to make it a two-possession game. Highlander Finn Chapman countered with a pair of free throws but Justin Hinrichsen answered with a jumper. Highlander Calvin Kuzyk halved the deficit with a trey with 19.8 seconds on the clock before Spectrum iced it at the free throw line. Spectrum coach Tyler Verde told Varsity Letters that “no one expects anything of us – they’ve never even heard of our school, most people. We’d never been to the semifinals (before this year), now we’re in the finals. I started coaching at Spectrum in 2018. We were a 4A school that played in the Tier 2 league in Victoria. There was nothing really there. I’ve had a lot of support from a lot of great coaches who have really helped me grow. And our kids just love basketball. We don’t ask them to, but they’re in the gym every day at 7 a.m., and that’s what coaches dream of. This group, from Grade 9 and now they’re all pretty much Grade 11, they’re worked so hard.” Verde also lauded the defensive efforts of Gio De Gracia. “He doesn’t get any love, but I think he’s the best defender in the province. I just have to shout out Gio. He is the rock of our team.” Highlanders coach Paul Eberhardt said “if you told me before the game that we would have held them to 59 points, I would have said we were going to win easily. We just ran out of gas offensively. We were dead – we didn’t have our legs. They played great defence, too. I feel so bad for the kids, of course, but they battled so hard. We held them to 59, and I can’t believe that wasn’t enough for us to get the win.” Tyler Felt and Justin Hinrichsen each scored 18 to pace the Thunder. J Elijah Helman added 16, C.J. Zuno 3, Gio De Gracia 1 and Justin Le 2, while Harper Kopp, Arvin Sidhu, Gunnar Barlee, Mateo Williamson, Cadel Jenkins, Aris Mariano, Yuvi Atwal, Harkaran Dhah and Sahil Ark were scoreless. Max Hdolvu-Fraser paced the Highlanders with 20. Finn Chapman added 16, Calvin Kuzyk 7, Harris Cameron 5, Zeyad Ahmed 2 and Malcolm Lotz 2, while Atila Vadaei, Jordan Jessop, Finley Bate-Smith, Edward Fitzgerald, Benji Thiel, Cassius Gregorian, Jake Greenwood, Max Dean and Wesley Cormack were scoreless.
In the other semi, 4th-seeded Surrey Tamanawis Wildcats edged the top-seeded Victoria Oak Bay Bays 80-79 in overtime. The Bays led 20-16, 45-33 71-59 at the quarters. They pounded the ball into the paint to Finley Lillis and Owen Lewis and when the Wildcats adjusted their defence, Thomas Beames, Diem Orser and Toren Franklin connected on treys from the perimeter. Although the Wildcats notched a 10-0 run capped by a Jordan Hare trey to trim the margin to 56-55, the Oaks rebuilt the lead to 68-58 on a pair of treys by Orser and a singleton by Beames, prompting the Wildcats to shift to a full-court press. They ended regulation with a 13-3 run, featuring a pair of critical buckets by Arjun Hehar and capped by a runout steal and bucket by Michael Adarkwah-Nti, knotting the score at 71 with 9.2 seconds to play. The Wildcats built an early 5-point lead in the extra session but the Bays rallied to take a 79-78 lead on a Lewis putback. Adarkwah-Nti drove for a bucket to give the Wildcats lead and a driving layup attempt by Lewis was blocked by Gursewak Mann. A Franklin bid to win it at the buzzer drew front iron. “We haven’t pressed at all this year,” Wildcats coach Mike McKay told Varsity Letters. “But we’ve been practicing it for the past month, because we knew we’d need it at some point. Our guys believed, came back, we got the steals and turnovers we needed to. I’m very proud of our effort – nobody gave up. In the timeouts, everybody’s eyes were up, their heads were up, and it was really fun to see that they came out and executed what they asked us to do.” Hehar said “I’ve been watching this tournament at the LEC [Langley Events Centre] since elementary school. It’s always been my dream to make the provincial final, and my dream’s coming true. It’s so surreal. … We prepared for this our entire life, and we wanted to leave it all out there tonight. That’s all we were focusing on (late in regulation) – literally diving on every loose ball and just fight for everything, the last few moments of our basketball careers.” Bays coach Chris Franklin said “I thought Mike (McKay) did a very good job of getting downhill and changing tempo. We played a bit off the back foot (late in regulation). We were a layup away from winning at any point in those last two minutes. But credit to Tammy – they battled back. They really put pressure on us at the rim, they scrambled and got into some pass lanes. Credit to Tammy for being well-organized, and Mike for being so aggressive. It’s tough for the kids. It’s a great game to be part of – it would be nicer to be on the other side of it. But you get a few of these on the plus side of the ledger and a few on the negative side. As a longtime coach, it was a good game. I’m very proud. The two teams played hard. There’s no negative, outside of the scoreboard. I thought both teams gave everything they could.” Sartaj Bhangu paced the Wildcats with 18. Seva Virk added 17, Arjun Hehar 17, Michael Adarkwah-Nti 11, Gursewak Mann 6 and Tejveer Sanghera 3, while Sayvic Dhami, Sunny Dhami, Jas Chahal, Jordan Hare, Pavan Dhillon, Jayden Rai, Saneh Dhaliwal and Gurjowan Cheema were scoreless. Thomas Beames paced the Bays with 23. Finley Lillis added 14, Diem Orser 13, Owen Lewis 12, Toren Franklin 9 and Heath Taylor 8, while Corrado Ceretti, Jarrah Chadwick-Rupp, Leuan Huggins, Allistair Meyer, Chris Wong, Ryan Gough, Quinn Doerksen and Cohen McMillan-Stowards were scoreless.
In the bronze medal match, the top-seeded Victoria Oak Bay Bays dusted the 3rd-seeded West Vancouver Highlanders 85-53. The Highlanders led 18-17 after one quarter and 36-30 at the half. The Bays led 59-48 after three quarters. Thomas Beames paced the Bays with 26. Heath Taylor added 19, Diem Orser 13, Owen Lewis 9, Finley Lillis 8, Toren Franklin 6 and Corrado Ceretti 4, while Jarrah Chadwick-Rupp, Leuan Huggins, Allistair Meyer, Chris Wong, Ryan Gough, Quinn Doerksen and Cohen McMillan-Stowards were scoreless. Calvin Kuzyk paced the Highlanders with 17. Max Ndolvu-Fraser added 13, Harris Cameron 11, Finley Bate-Smith 3, Zeyad Ahmed 3 and Cassius Gregorian 2, while Atila Vadaei, Jordan Jessop, Finn Chapman, Edward Fitzgerald, Malcolm Lotz, Benji Thiel, Jake Greenwood, Max Dean and Wesley Cormack were scoreless. The Highlanders (coach Paul Eberhardt, assistant Phil Kuzyk, assistant Navid Panah) also included Paul Jesic and Ryan Zhou.
In the final, the 2nd-seeded Saanich Spectrum Thunder captured their first provincial crown by clocking = the 4th-seeded Surrey Tamanawis Wildcats 92-72. The score was knotted at 13 after one quarter. The Thunder notched a 16-4 run to take a 36-25 lead at the half. They opened the second half with a 10-3 run to take a 46-28 lead and led 55-44 after three quarters and by as many as 20 in the fourth before S Banghu hit a pair of treys and Hehar another as the Wildcats drew within 67-56. But the Thunder countered with a 14-0 run capped by a Tyler Felt jumper with 3:13 to play to take an 95-59 lead and then coasted to the win. Tournament MVP Tyler Felt told Varsity Letters that “I felt we clicked at the right time this year and we pushed each other hard, especially on defence, which won us these last couple of games. Even though I got the MVP, that could have gone to so many guys. It really was a group award. This is all so surreal. … Defence was the main component of us winning this championship and in the second half, once we started hitting shots, that’s when we really started rolling and we started to push it.” Justin Hinrichsen added that “we fought hard all night. It was a tough battle, tough game, but we pushed through and pulled out the win. Tamanawis is a really talented team that plays a fast pace and shoots the ball well. They have a bunch of good players.” Spectrum coach Tyler Verde called it the product of “hard work, man. … And it’s on all of them. But it’s on all of them. I opened the gym and organized some stuff, but they put in the time. We compete, and we work hard every day in practice.” Verde also said the players benefitted from the wisdom of legendary coach Ken Shields, who regularly attended practices during the year to instill his wisdom, particularly on defence. “His thing was we have quick guards and we have athletic forwards that can play on the perimeter and we just want to keep guys in front of us. Perfect, sound defence without fouling. We probably didn’t live up to Ken’s expectations but it makes us try to and it obviously worked and I can’t thank him enough.” Hinrichsen said Shields “pushed us every day in defence when he worked with us. He’s so basketball smart … so many tips. … It was our goal to be the best defensive team in the province and it might have worked out.” Verde said defensive player of the tournament and player of the game Gio De Gracia “played the game of his life. I shouted him out (Friday) as the best perimeter defender in the province and he killed it today.” Wildcats coach Matt McKay said “we had some mental errors in our zone defence in the first half. If you had told us we would have held Spectrum to 1 of 13 or 1 of 14 from three in the first half, I would have said we were probably up 10 at halftime instead of down 10. We didn’t switch and bump back, gave them the offensive rebounds, I think they scored on every single one of them. So we got down 13 or 14, and it is tough to play that way for the entire game. I think we had to go to the press defence about five minutes too early but it was kind of our only option at that point. … It’s tough to win a game when we hold them to 1-of 14 from three in the first half, but the stuff we practice all year about our back-side rebounding and dropping down and switching, we just completely forgot. … And I think they scored on pretty much every one of those offensive rebound put-backs. If you told me were holding that team to 1-of-14 from three in the first half, I would think we’re up 10 at the half instead of being down 11 or whatever it was. Four or five big mental lapses really changed that game and so then it came down to the last 13 minutes or so of us trying to press a bit. In a game against a team that is that good and that well coached, you just can’t have as many of those mental lapses.” Tyler Felt notched a double-double with 26 on 8-10 from the floor and 12 boards to pace the Thunder. Justin Hinrichsen added a double-double with 20 and 16 boards, J Elijah Helman 19 and Gio De Gracia 8, while Harper Kopp, Arvin Sidhu, Justin Le, Gunnar Barlee, Mateo Williamson, Cadel Jenkins, Aris Mariano, Evan Enns, Harkaran Dhah and Sahil Ark were scoreless. Michael Adarkwah-Nti and Sartaj Banghu each scored 17 to pace the Wildcats. Arjun Herar added11, Gursewak Mann 8, Jordan Hare 6, Sunny Dhami 5, Tejveer Sanghera 5 and Seva Virk 3, while Sayvic Dhami, Jas Chahal, Jayden Rai, Pavan Dhillon, Arjun Hehar, Saneh Dhaliwal and Gurjowan Cheema were scoreless.
Joining MVP Felt on the all-tournament team were: Michael Adarlwah-Nti (Tamanawis), J Elijah Helman (Spectrum); Justin Hinrichsen (Spectrum); Nylan Roberts (Yale); and Oak Bay’s Thomas Beames (Oak Bay).
The 2nd-team all-tournament selections were Sartaj Banghu (Tamanawis); Arjun Hehar (Tamanawis); Lordrikk Gutierrez (Burnaby South); Calvin Kuzyk (West Vancouver); and Heath Taylor (Oak Bay).
The bronze medalist Oak Bay Bays: Toren Franklin; Corrado Ceretti; Jarrah Chadwick-Rupp; Thomas Beams; Leuan Huggins; Allistair Meyer; Finley Lillis; Chris Wong; Ryan Gough; Diem Orser; Heath Taylor; Quinn Doerksen; Cohen McMillan-Stowards; Owen Lewis; coach Chris Franklin; assistant Graham Taylor; assistant Scott Kellum; manager Bill Lewis
The silver medalist Surrey Tamanawis Wildcats: Michael Adarkwah-Nti; Sartaj Bhangu; Arjun Hehar; Sunny Dhami; Seva Virk; Jordan Hare; Tejveer Sanghera; Gursewak Mann; Sayvic Dhami; Jas Chahal; Pavan Dhillon; Jayden Rai; Saneh Dhaliwal; Luka Guzina; Gurjowan Cheema; coach Mike McKay; assistant Manny Dulay; assistant Par Bains; assistant James Johnston;
The champion Victoria Spectrum Thunder: Justin Hinrichsen; Tyler Felt; J Elijah Helman; C.J. Zuno; Gio De Gracia; Harper Kopp; Arvin Sidhu; Justin Le; Gunnar Barlee; Aris Mariano; Mateo Williamson; Cadel Jenkins; Lucas Adams; Evan Enns; Yuvi Atwal; Harkaran Dhah; Sahil Ark; coach Tyler Verde; assistant Brett Westcott; assistant James Pitbaldo; assistant Eric Hinrichsen; assistant Jugmohit Hundal