In the opening round: …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Prince Rupert Charles Hays Rainmakers pounded the 16th-seeded Samuel Robertson Titans 71-42. The Rainmakers led 17-9, 31-20 and 49-34 at the quarters and took command in the final quarter when they got their transition game on track. “We played a little tentative early,” Rainmakers coach Mel Bishop told Varsity Letters. “It’s a long day (to wait for the 830p tipoff) and the double overtime game before us, we had to wait and wait. Your rhythm gets messed up a little bit. But defensively we were all right.” Bishop said guard Tyler Jones “got some easy hoops” off the break, while “Kai Leighton, our big guy, was strong on the boards.” Tyler Jones paced the Rainmakers with 22. Kae Leighton added 13, along with 17 boards, Rylan Adams 12, Dylan Calder 6, Brendan Eshom 6, Caden Pagens 4, Xander Gerritsen 4, Dakota Knockwood 2 and Chris Wilson 2, while Kai Chan, Devon Laliberte, Mason Dileta, Gregory Sutherland, Daylyn Moody-Moraes and Aiden Leighton were scoreless. The Rainmakers hit 34-83 (.410) from the floor, 1-20 (.050) from the arc and 2-7 (.286) from the line, while garnering 43 boards, including 16 on the offensive glass, 16 fouls, 9 assists, 16 turnovers, 4 blocks and 20 steals. Lucas Hutchinson paced the Titans with 16. Joel Blanco added 7, along with 14 boards, Geismund Dela Cruz 7, Ranier Manding 3, Anthony Katinic 3, Connor Libby 3 and Alexander Calderon 2, while Musen Wahidullah and Eric Law were scoreless. The Titans hit 15-60 (.250) from the floor, 5-24 (.208) from the arc and 7-17 (.412) from the line, while garnering 38 boards, including 11 on the offensive glass, 10 fouls, 5 assists, 31 turnovers, 1 block and 7 steals. The Titans (coached by Scott Tomlin, assistant Brett Tomlin) also included Parker Deschenes and Justin Falconer. …………………………………………………… The 9th-seeded North Vancouver St. Thomas Aquinas Fighting Saints clipped the 8th-seeded Princeton Princess Margaret Mustangs 90-84 in double-overtime. The Mustangs led 18-11 after one quarter. The Fighting Saints led 37-34 at the half and 61-54 after three quarters. The score was knotted at 69 after regulation and at 78 after the first overtime. The Saints pulled out the win as Michael O’Flynn hit a series of critical buckets down the stretch. Saints coach Jim Kelly told Varsity Letters that “it was a classic 8-9 (seed) matchup. It’s kind of who wants it more. It was unfortunate that their best player (Adrian Orioli) fouled out (late in the fourth quarter). He’s a helluva player. We got lucky to be honest.” The Saints lost principal ballhandler Jansen Balmaceda to a leg injury mideay through the final quarter. But O’Flynn hit a tough layup in traffic with two minutes to play to give the Saints a six-point lead. Colton Alexa countered with a pair of treys to force the first overtime. But O’Flynn drained a late a trey in the extra session to force a second overtime. “He’s our only senior and he showed who he was tonight,” said Kelly. “Some of the other guys didn’t have their best game and it looked like we were nervous and kind of not ready. Michael’s never been a high scorer all year and he was tonight. It just goes to show you that seniors make a difference.” O’Flynn said he’s “not known as a shooter, so when I make it, it makes me very happy. I’ll take it.” Rory Goodwin led the Fighting Saints with 24, while nabbing 15 boards. Jansen Balmaceda notched 14, Michael O’Flynn 22, Henry Cromak 6, Dexter Boase 6, Ryan Black 4 and Declan Culter 4, while Simon Xia, Jalen Mathias, Gericho Manogsong, Erik Thordson, Anthony Setticasi, Raphael Arcilla, Nico Barrera and Luca Sikich were scoreless. The Fighting Saints hit 32-90 (.356) from the floor, 5-24 (.208) from the arc and 21-33 (.636) from the line, while garnering 57 boards, including 13 on the offensive glass, 17 fouls, 12 assists, 28 turnovers, 5 blocks and 12 steals. Adrian Orioli paced the Mustangs with 26. Carson Drobe added 19, along with 11 boards, Colton Olexa 13, Rowan Brown 12, Matt Olsen 8, along with 20 boards, Griffin Goodfellow 2, Tyson Carroll 2 and Alan Woodhouse 2, while Jackson Wrigglesworth, Karanveer Gill, Nolan Tredrea and Chris Schulting were scoreless. The Mustangs hit 30-114 (.263) from the floor, 12-50 (.240) from the arc and 12-18 from the line, while garnering 58 boards, including 24 on the offensive glass, 24 fouls, 13 assists, 20 turnovers, 5 blocks and 18 steals. The Mustangs (coached by Mike Redford, assistants Dan Van Os and Tanner Sandberg, manager Brian Drobe) also included Abijeet Dhillon. …………………………………………………… 4th-seeded Mill Bay Brentwood College pounded the 13th-seeded Vernon Clarence Fulton Maroons 74-28 after leading 21-6, 35-9 and 60-16 at the quarters. Brentwood guard Jack Napier-Ganley dominated the floor, when he was on it, including hitting a pair of driving layups as part of a 12-0 run to completely bury the Maroons distant hopes of an upset. “He knocked down a couple of shots, but the big thing with Jack is he guards and he competes like crazy,” said Brentwood coach Blake Gage told Varsity Letters. “He gets to every loose ball. He guards the other team’s best player and does a great job.” Maroons coach Dale Olson said “I don’t what it was. Honestly, I felt like we were really prepared for the game. The kids were up this morning, we had breakfast early, they were ready to go. But with this team, if we miss early shots we have a tough time getting going. We missed those three easy chipees to start the game out and it really set the pace for the game, unfortunately for us. You come out and hit a few more shots, you get competitive and you start believing you can put it in the hole instead of going the other way. How it ended, we all saw that. It wasn’t pretty.” Gage said “we just wanted to get a W. We were lucky they missed some shots early and got discouraged. We wanted to play hard and put ourselves in a position to move on.” Jack Napier-Ganley paced Brentwood with 19. Feury Kelly added 12, Dylan Gage 11, Juan Navarro 11, Shaw Blaisdell 7, Olin Dahlstrom 6, Lorenzo Garcia 4, Ifeanyi Ayadiuno 2, Ben Bonnovsky 1 and Justin Watt 1, while Noah Pasloske, Matthias Streeblow, Jamie Trow and Rei Kondo were scoreless. Brentwood hi 28-81 (.346) from the floor, 9-28 (.321) from the arc and 9-14 (.643) from the line, while garnering 48 boards, including 18 on the offensive glass, 14 fouls, 20 assists, 16 turnovers and 14 steals. Karan Malhotra paced the Maroons with 7. Dom Peterson added 4, Reyann Siddique 4, Van Kozak 3, Ethan Schiman 3, Drayson Truscott 2, Jason Dollevoet 2, Quinn Williamson 2 and Aiden Trottier 1, while Colby Eisenhauer was scoreless. The Maroons (coached by Dale Olson, assistant Ben Olson, manager Hark Lit) hit 10-54 (.185) from the floor, 2-15 (.133) from the arc and 6-13 (.462) from the line, while garnering 32 boards, including 9 on the offensive glass, 12 fouls, 4 assists, 25 turnovers and 9 steals. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Abbotsford Christian Knights clocked the 12th-seeded Surrey Christian Falcons 90-66 after leading 23-17, 45-30 and 69-50 at the quarters. The Falcons had cut a 24-point lead to 14 with a 16-6 run and appeared to be gaining momentum when Knights guard Zach Meinen returned to the floor, buried a baseline jumper and drained a long step-back trey at the buzzer to rebuild the lead to 14. “We couldn’t get a whistle and I was waiting to sub in,” Meinen told Varsity Letters. “I made a couple of shots and rejuvenated the guys.” Coach Keith Stewart said “Zach turned that game around when he made that little run. He’s actually done that many times this year, made a bunch in a row. When he starts going off like that, we just leave him alone. He’s a great scorer. … This is the best team I’ve ever had in 32 years of coaching. We can do some damage. But we’ve got to have guys playing the whole game, not 30 minutes like we had today.” Zachary Meinen paced the Knights with 25. Spencer Langelaar added 22, Aaron Van Belle 17, Tobi Siebenga 10, Zach Fleming 6, Ben Gossen 5 and Landon Morrow 5, while Josh Draaistra, Luke Sikma, Tyrell Vaandrager, Darius Crump, Brett Keller, Kyle Moelker and Tom Andres were scoreless. The Knights hit 34-93 (.366) from the floor, 12-30 (.400) from the arc and 10-19 (.526) from the line, while garnering 57 boards, including 28 on the offensive glass, 16 fouls, 5 assists, 13 turnovers and 14 steals. David Liu paced the Falcons with 19. Joshua Nanton added 15, Richard Janzen 11, Comrie Bengers 9, Liam Tiamzon 6, Dominic Patawaran 4 and Andy Thompson 2, while Carter Hamelin, Matthew Rathore, Matthew Smulders, Noah Anderson and Boyan Chen were scoreless. The Falcons (coached by Josh Buys and Gary Chapman) hit 25-63 (.397) from the floor, 6-14 (.429) from the arc and 10-16 (.625) from the line, while garnering 27 boards, including 5 on the offensive glass, 16 fouls, 12 assists, 17 turnovers and 11 steals. …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded Vancouver King George Dragons whipped the 15th-seeded Trail J.L. Crowe Hawks 95-53 after leading 15-8, 51-18 and 70-42 at the quarters. The Dragons depth proved far too much for the Hawks to handle. Dragons coach Darko Kulic told Varsity Letters that “obviously, we have a player [Nikola Guzina] who might be the best player in B.C. But we have depth, too. We have a lot of guys who can go in, and not just in a game like this where I play 15. I play at least 10 guys every game. They’re skilled in a lot of ways. It makes it easy for me as a coach. If one kid is not going, I can just put in another kid. … They do the ‘who’s got my back’ huddle [at the start of the game]. It’s basically saying we worked hard to get to whatever moment we’re at and it’s aimed at getting us realizing that ‘who’s got my back? I’ve got your back.’ LOB, Love our Brothers.” Nikola Guzina paced the Dragons with 25. Silvio Suchy added 15, Adam Spano 14, along with 12 boards, Jodhan Uppal 9, Alejandro Rios 9, Nathaniel Eyobe 5, Marshall Astak 5, Kaz Nickel 4, Marko Bjeljac 3, O’neil Vij 3, Romel Eyobe2 and Gareth Wintjes 2, while Caden Osmack, Yashar Kiarash and Maksim Kovacevic were scoreless. The Dragons hit 41-91 (.451) from the floor, 8-30 (.267) from the arc and 5-9 (.556) from the line, while garnering 49 boards, including 23 on the offensive glass, 17 fouls, 12 assists, 7 turnovers and 18 steals. Sam Knight paced the Hawks with 22. A Salsiciolli added 8, Cameron Nagle 7, Connor Berno 6, Alberto Pas 4, K Moli 4 and Connor Nagle 2, while Colin Voong, Romulo Wunderlich, Wyatt Smith and Josh Harmsma were scorelees. The Hawks hit 21-62 (.339) from the floor, 4-23 (.174) from the arc and 7-17 (.412) from the line, while garnering 32 boards, including 10 on the offensive glass, 5 fouls, 4 assists, 23 turnovers and 3 steals. The Hawks (coached by Stephanie Leithead) also included Thano Riemer and Isaiah Colwell. …………………………………………………… The 10th-seeded West Vancouver Mulgrave Titans stunned the 7th-seeded Prince George D.P. Todd Trojans 80-61 after leading 16-8, 38-32 and 62-50 at the quarters. “It was awesome,” Titans point guard Isaac Manji told Varsity Letters of the school’s first appearance at the Double A provincials, after years of toiling at the Single-A level. “We’re so lucky to even be here. To get this win as a lower seed (No. 10 to D.P. Todd’s No. 7) feels so good.” Aleksei Rubin notched three consecutive buckets in the paint as the Titans took total command in the final frame. “The kid can jump out of the gym,” said Titans coach Claude Leduc. “He’s got a really sweet move, that one dribble-hop from the short corner. … We’ve got a bit of everything. We’ve got guys who can shoot it, guys that can bang, guys that can run, we’ve got guys that like to play defence. And everyone likes to share and work at it together. But our point guard drives it. Fantastic game. He’s a special player. When the stakes are the biggest, he plays big.” Isaac Manji paced the Titans with 23, while nabbing 12 boards. Owen McMenemy-Brown added 14, Behbod Panahandeh 10, along with 10 boards, Aleksei Rubin 10, along with 10 boards, Kaiden Talib 8, Kousha Razabi 7, Jack Wray 4 and Joshua Chow 3, while Ali Talib, Marshall Moussavi, Ziyan Hemani, Mikhali Talib, Garrett Dai, Johnny Chen and Jefferson Decooman were scoreless. The Titans hit 29-79 (.367) from the floor, 7-27 (.259) from the arc and 15-18 (.833) from the line, while garnering 53 boards, including 15 on the offensive glass, 16 fouls, 8 assists, 17 turnovers and 8 steals. Cameron Sale paced the Trojans with 24, while nabbing 10 boards. Aman Bansil added 9, Saagar Shergill 9, Reif Petrovicky 8, Shane Sandhu 6 and Colton Meehan 5, while Kyler Thirkettle, David Agboje, Marwan Elalkay, Holden Black and Griffen Gouger-Davis were scoreless. The Trojans (coached by Greg Sale, assistant Cayle Davison, manager Sarge Shergil) hit 20-75 (.267) from the floor, 7-29 (.241) from the arc and 14-23 (.609) from the line, while garnering 36 boards, including 13 on the offensive glass, 13 fouls, 3 assists, 11 turnovers, 4 blocks and 12 steals. …………………………………………………… The 14th-seeded Lake Country George Elliot Coyotes 76-60 stunned the 3rd-seeded Surrey Southridge Storm 76-60. Storm coach Ray Kwok told Varsity Letters that “you know what, I watched about six hours of video on them. I kept watching it going ‘there’s no way they’re a 14 seed.’ They have all the pieces. I wouldn’t be surprised if they get to the final again like last year.” Coyote forward Roan McCarthy said the low seed may have been unwarranted. “I think they always overlook the Lake Country boys. And the Coast guys didn’t really have a good look at us.” Coyotes coach Kathy Lafontaine said the starting unit are “all big guys and four of them can handle the ball. So we don’t really have a point guard. Carter has sort of stepped into that role, but there are four of them that rotate there. We have four posts that sometimes are guards. We are a flexible team and we use that.” McCarthy said “it would be great (to get back to the final, as in 2019). We’ve got a great group of guys. We’ve got experience from last year. We’re just going to take what we have and run with it.” Triston Hearn paced the Coyotes with 17. Chris Auger added 15, along with 12, boards, Roan McCarthy 14, Carter McConnell 14, Bergren Van Lent 14 and Umer Hayat 2, while Caden Ross, Eric Lees, Peter Blades and Josh Sproule were scoreless. The Coyotes hit 28-66 (.433) from the floor, 6-20 (.333) from the arc and 14-21 from the line, while garnering 46 boards, including 10 on the offensive glass, 15 fouls, 9 assists, 17 turnovers and 7 steals. Graham Block paced the Storm with 20. Harrison Hughes added 12, Brandt Muncey-Buckley 8, Rohan Hall 7, Kabir Buttar 6, Matt Randall 3, Ethan Tregobov 2 and Jayden Leach 2, while Gene Chen, Arjan Dhaliwal, Amir Gill, Anokh Gill, Rowan Frost and Matthew Gu were scoreless. The Storm hit 26-79 (.329) from the floor, 2-28 (.071) from the arc and 6-11 (.545) from the line, while garnering 33 boards, including 14 on the offensive glass, 21 fouls, 9 assists, 14 turnovers and 9 steals. The Storm (coached by Ray Kwok, assistants Jonathan Yu and Steve Anderson, managers Tom Bowie and Brady Van Unen) also included Rohan Sall. …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Victoria Lambrick Park Lions torched the 11th-seeded Richmond Hugh Boyd Trojans 85-48 after leading 14-12, 32-20 and 55-31 at the quarters. “Probably one of our better defensive performances,” Lions co-coach Ed Somers told Varsity Letters. “In the first half, I think we got 11-12 points from our transition offence (off turnovers). By locking in defensively … we were confident we weren’t giving up easy baskets. I think they got stuck on 20 (points) for quite a long time.” Coban Scott said of an eight-minute stretch in which the Lions held the Trojans scoreless, that “we were really efficient. First half we got off to a pretty slow start (leading just 14-12 after one quarter), but we picked it up. We knew we were better as a team.” A Scott trey and six consecutive points from Clague in the paint built the lead to 55-28 and they iced it with an 11-2 run early in the final quarter. Coban Scott paced the Lions with 28. Taine Claque added 26, along with 10 boards, Cormick Brown 5, Keegan Bondoreff 5, Dylan Brown 5, Terry Chan 4, Makhail Bondereff 4, Liam Bondoreff 3, Joe Yan 3 and Nate Crust 2, while Stephen Tryong and Jayson Dosanjh were scoreless. The Lions hit 33-75 (.440) from the floor, 7-28 (.250) from the arc and 12-18 from the line, while garnering 41 boards, including 14 on the offensive glass, 12 fouls, 7 assists, 18 turnovers and 18 fouls. Payton Hinds paced the Trojans with 9. Cory Meister added 8, Cash Willis 6, Brandon Nguyen 6, Jason Greywall 4, Nicholas Berda 4, Justin Berdowr 4, Andrew Inocencio 3, Darius Willis 2 and Ty Arriga 2, while Denzel Mendoza, Joe Chiu, Matt Pankanea, Nuri Pankanea and Miguel Valido were scoreless. The Trojans (coached by Norm Schulz, assisted by Sean Berda and Carter Giesbrecht) hit 19-69 (.275) from the floor, 1-16 (.063) from the arc and 9-14 (.643) from the line, while garnering 34 boards, including 16 on the offensive glass, 14 fouls, 9 assists, 26 turnovers and 12 steals.
In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Prince Rupert Charles Hays Rainmakers dispatched the 9th-seeded North Vancouver St. Thomas Aquinas Fighting Saints 89-81. The Rainmakers led led 15-3 early 25-19 after one quarter. The Fighting Saints led 48-42 at the half, by as many as 15, and 69-58 after three quarters. But the Rainmakers rallied behind a formidable man-to-man defence and the savvy of point guard Tyler Jones. “The fourth quarter kicked in and we all just said ‘it’s either now or never. We can’t go out like this my senior year,” Jones told Varsity Letters. “Me and (fellow Grade 12) Kai (Leighton) just went at it and balled in the fourth quarter.” The Rainmakers opened the final frame with a 16-0, including nine consecutive points from Jones. After converting a runout, he was fouled on attempted trey, hit the first free throw, missed the next two, but beat the bigs to the rebound at the end line, bouncing it off a Fighting Saints player to allow the Rainmakers to retain possession. On the inbounds, he drained a trey, followed that up with a driving layup, then converted from the free throw line after a technical foul on the Fighting Saints, giving the Rainmakers a 71-69 lead they never relinquished. “Just a jitterbug and he has such a great feel for the game,” said Saints coach Jim Kelly. “He got inside on us way too much. And he’s a heck of a competitor. He just kept going all game long. … We controlled the game for a long time. But they showed who they are. They’re just a championship calibre team, No. 1 for a reason. They showed it in the fourth quarter and we showed how kind of young we were.” Tyler Jones paced the Rainmakers with 31. Rylan Adams addd 15, Kai Leighton 13, along with 16 boards, Brendan Eshom 14, Caden Pagens 8, Daylyn Moody-Moraes 3, Kai Chan 2, Dakota Knockwood 2 and Dylan Calder 1, while Devon Laliberte, Mason Dileta, Gregory Sutherland, Chris Wilson, Aiden Leighton and Xander Gerritsen were scoreless. The Rainmakers hit 33-76 (.434) from the floor, 15-38 (.395) from the arc and 8-14 (.571) from the line, while garnering 38 boards, including 10 on the offensive glass, 19 fouls, 17 assists, 10 turnovers and 5 steals. Jansen Balmaceda paced the Fighting Saints with 33. Rory Goodwin added 22, Dexter Boase 8, Henry Cromak 5, Ryan Black 5, Michael O’Flynn 4, Nico Barrera 2 and Erik Thordarson 2, while Simon Xia, Jalen Mathias, Gericho Manongsong, Anthony Setticasi, Raphael Arcilla, Luca Sikich and Declan Culter were scoreless. The Fighting Saints hit 27-74 (.365) from the floor, 11-26 (.423) from the arc and 16-26 (.615) from the line, while garnering 34 boards, including 10 on the offensive glass, 15 fouls, 5 assists, 8 turnovers and 9 steals. The Fighting Saints (coached by Jim Kelly, assisted by Damian Botteselle and Loui Saituro) also included Brandon Vargas.
The 4th-seeded Mill Bay Brentwood College clipped the 5th-seeded Abbotsford Christian Knights 69-61. The Knights led 18-16 after one quarter. Brentwood led 35-34 at the half. The Knights led 53-52 after three quarters. The game was back-and-forth the whole way, with six ties and seven lead changes. Neither team had a lead of more than five points in the second half until the final couple of minutes. “I’m sure it was entertaining, but I did not enjoy the experience,” Brentwood coach Blake Gage told Varsity Letters. “They did a good job of keeping us off balance. I haven’t seen us that frantic for a long time. Full credit to Abby Christian. They really mixed things up well and we were not very good with the basketball.” Brentwood guard Shaw Blaisdell notched six consecutive points early in the fourth quarter off a baseline drive and a pair of fast break layins. He also drained a pair of clutch free throws with 39.9 seconds remaining to push the lead to 67-61. “He was up and down the whole game, but you know what, his energy was high the whole time,” Gage said. “He’s our best guy out in transition, no question about it. When he gets going, he’s tough.” Shaw Blaisdell paced Brentwood with 22. Juan Navarro added 14, along with 10 boards, Jack Napier-Ganley 11, Dylan Gage 8, Feury Kelly 6, Olin Dahlstrom 4, Ifeanyi Ayadiuno 2 and Justin Watt 2, while Noah Pasloske, Jamie Trow, Benn Bonnovsky, Lorenzo Garcia, Matthias Streblow and Rei Kondo were scoreless. Brentwood hit 25-60 (.417) from the floor, 7-23 (.304) from the arc and 12-19 (.632) from the line, while garnering 33 boards, including 10 on the offensive glass, 17 fouls, 8 assists, 26 turnovers and 12 steals. Zach Fleming paced the Knights with 17. Ben Gossen added 17, Tobi Siebenga 9, Spencer Langelaar 8, Zachary Meinen 5, Aaron Van Belle 3 and Luke Sikma 2, while John Draaistra, Landon Morrow, Tyrell Van Drager, Darius Crump, Brett Keller, Kyle Moelker and Tom Andres were scoreless. The Knights (coach Keith Stewart, assistant Jim Williams, assistant Jackie Stewart. manager Tim Harter) hit 22-72 (.306) from the floor, 8-36 (.222) from the arc and 9-16 (.563) from the line, while garnering 34 boards, including 12 on the offensive glass, 21 fouls, 9 assists, 19 turnovers and 14 steals.
The 2nd-seeded Vancouver King George Dragons whipped the 10th-seeded West Vancouver Mulgrave Titans 69-52 after leading 24-11, 38-31 and 55-43 at the quarters. Dragons 6-9 post Nikola Guzina dominated both ends of the floor. “I think he is, if not the best player in B.C., one of best,” Dragons coach Darko Kulic told Varsity Letters. “He’s everything for us. Some of our guys weren’t feeling great today, and he really stood up and showed what a talent he is. He’s a senior and he took the team to the next level and showed them great leadership. Just made that big play everytime and he’s such a positive leader.” The Titans trailed 11-0 early and 24-6 late in the first quarter but rallied to trim the margin to five on a trey from point guard Isaac Manji. Guzina responded with a 10-foot jumper and, after Dragons’ point guard Alejandro Rios converted on back-to-back shots, the lead was back up to 10. The Titans never got closer. “He gets disrespected a lot,” Kulic said of Rios. “I’ve had a lot of great guards in my coaching career. And a lot of people say if we just had a better guard. But he does everything you need. He never gets the all-star (recognition), but he doesn’t care. He’s always giving pointers on the bench to the younger kids. Wonderful kid and he stepped up really big there.” Nikola Guzia paced the Dragons with 35, while nabbing 17 boards. Gareth Wintjes added 14, Alejandro Rios 10, Nathaniel Eyobe 3, Maxim Astak 3, Silvio Suchy 2 and Romel Eyobe 2, while Cadem Osmack, Yashar Kiarash, Kaz Nickel, Jodhan Uppal, Marco Bejljac, Maksim Kovacevic, O’niel Vij and Adam Spano were scoreless. The Dragons hit 27-73 (.370) from the floor, 3-14 (.214) from the arc and 12-18 from the line, while garnering 39 boards, including 9 on the offensive glass, 13 fouls, 7 assists, 13 turnovers, 1 block and 7 steals. Isaac Manji paced the Titans with 12, while nabbing 10 boards. Mikhail Talib notched 9, Aleksei Rubin 8, Jefferson DeCooman 7, Kousha Razavi 6, Owen McMenemy-Brown 5 and Kaiden Talib 5, while Ali Alib, Marshall Moussavi, Ziyan Hemani, Jack Wray, Joshua Chow, Garrett Dai and Johnny Chen were scoreless. The Titans hit 19-65 (.292) from the floor, 5-25 from the arc and 9-15 (.600) from the line, while garnering 35 boards, including 8 on the offensive glass, 14 fouls, 4 assists, 12 turnovers and 9 steals. The Titans (coach Claude Leduc, assistant Kyle Prior, manager Azad Dharamsi, manager Tanja Totzauer) also included Behbod Panahandeh.
In the last quarterfinal, the 6th-seeded Victoria Lambrick Park Lions nipped the 14th-seeded Lake Country George Elliot Coyotes 77-76 as Cormick Brown, who’d suffered from mononucleosis for most of the season, hit an array of treys, including back-to-backs bombs, down the stretch to rally his team from a double-digit deficit. He also notched a pair of free throws with 10.6 seconds to play to five the Lions a 77-74 lead. “I wasn’t feeling it too much in the first (half, when he was 0-for-4), but I just kept shooting and they started going down,” Brown told Varsity Letters. “I felt really good. It’s kind of like a flow state almost. You don’t even know what’s going on.” The Coyotes led 19-9 after one quarter and 41-26 at the half. They led 50-37 before the Lions rallied with a 15-2 run. The score was knotted at 59 after three quarters. The Lions also benefitted enormously from the offensive boardwork of 6-1 Taine Clague. “Taine’s hands are phenomenal,” said Lambrick Park coach Ed Somers. “And he understands the geometry out there, how to get the space to create. At times, (George Elliot) had the four tallest players on the floor . . . and he was getting some catches and one-hand layins, things that were just amazing. … You’ve got to them every credit in the world. They had all the components. That is one solid team. We just found a few gaps out there and that was enough.” Coyotes’ coach Kathy Lafontaine said her squad got “pushed” off its game plan, got into foul trouble and made too many mistakes. “And they came out after the half, they made the adjustments and (Brown) lit it up. We couldn’t shut him and (Coban Scott, who had 19 points) down.” Cormick Brown paced the Lions with 26. Taine Clague added 19, Coban Scott 19, Makhail Bondoreff 7, Nate Crust 4 and Dylan Brown 2, while Liam Bondoreff, Joe Yan, Steven Truong, Jaden Dosanjh, Keagan Bondoreff and Terry Chen were scoreless. The Lions hit 31-75 (.413) from the floor, 5-26 (.192) from the arc and 10-15 from the line, while garnering 27 boards, including 8 on the offensive glass, 17 fouls, 9 assists, 10 turnovers and 14 steals. Triston Hearn paced the Coyotes with 20. Bergren Van lent added 19, along with 10 boards, Roan McCarthy 17, Chris Auger 10, along with 11 boards, Carter McConnell 9 and Umer Hayat 1, while Caden Ross, Ethan Kim, Peter Blades and Josh Sproule were scoreless. The Coyotes (coached by Kathy Lafontaine) hit 32-69 (.464) from the floor, 5-21 (.238) from the arc and 7-9 (.778) from the line, while garnering 40 boards, including 9 on the offensive glass, 16 fouls, 12 assists, 19 turnovers and 9 steals.
In the semis, the top-seeded Prince Rupert Charles Hays Rainmakers spanked 4th-seeded Mill Bay Brentwood College 69-55 after leading 17-11, 38-19 and 47-40 at the quarters. The Rainmakers led by as many as 20 in the first half but Brentwood rallied within four in the final quarter, opening the final frame with an 18-5 run, before Charles Hays reasserted control. “We kept our cool under pressure,” forward Kai Leighton told Varsity Letters. Rainmakers coach Mel Bishop said “we let ‘em play. … We were that close to calling a timeout. If they had hit another one [a trey], we would have called it. But we have confidence in the kids.” Leighton said “you’ve got to win the first five minutes of every single game. With the way our shooters are rolling right now, me and Caden [Pagens] just have to rebound and get the ball to them. That’s our job.” Brentwood coach Blake Gage said his troops just “got outcompeted in the first half. And that’s a very tall, veteran team. Kind of like men against boys out there.” Kai Leighton paced the Rainmakers with 16 on 6-17 from the floor, 1-6 from the arc, 3-5 from the line, 19 boards, 3 assists and 4 blocks. Caden Pagens added 15 on 6-13 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 12 boards, 2 assists and 2 blocks. Rylan Adams notched 14 on 4-18 from the floor, 2-12 from the arc, 4-5 from the line and 2 boards. Tyler Jones scored 13 on 4-13 from the floor, 1-6 from the arc, 4-6 from the line and 5 boards. Brendan Eshom added 5 on 2-6 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 4 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. Dakota Knockwood scored 5 on 2-4 from the floor and 1-2 from the arc. Xander Gerritsen added 1 on 1-2 from the floor and 2 boards, while Kai Chan, Gregory Sutherland, Devon Laliberte, Mason Dileta, Daylyn Moody-Moraes, Chris Wilson, Aiden Leighton and Dylan Calder were scoreless. The Rainmakers hit 24-74 (.324) from the floor, 7-34 (.206) from the arc and 14-20 (.700) from the line, while garnering 48 boards, including 16 on the offensive glass, 12 fouls, 10 assists, 17 turnovers, 7 blocks and 5 steals. Shaw Blaisdell paced Brentwood with 18 on 6-19 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 5-7 from the line and 2 boards. Juan Navarro added 11 on 5-15 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 8 boards, 3 assists and 3 steals. Jack Napier-Ganley notched 8 on 3-12 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 1-1 from the line, 4 boards and 4 steals. Justin Watt scored 7 on 2-6 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 2-3 from the line and 11 boards. Dylan Gage added 6 on 2-9 from the floor, 2-7 from the arc and 3 boards. Feury Kelly scored 5 on 2-7 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc and 3 boards, while Matthias Streblow, Ifeanyi Ayadiuno, Ben Bonnovsky, Jamie Trow, Lorenzo Garcia and Olin Dahlstrom were scoreless. Brentwood hit 20-69 (.290) from the floor, 6-24 from the arc and 9-13 (.692) from the line, while garnering 32 boards, including 8 on the offensive glass, 18 fouls, 5 assists, 14 turnovers, 1 block and 10 steals.
In the other semi, the 2nd-seeded Vancouver King George Dragons whipped the 6th-seeded Victoria Lambrick Park Lions 84-65 after leading 28-18, 54-35 and 72-49 at the quarters. The Dragons all but buried the Lions with a 14-0 run in the third quarter. The Lions double-and-triple-teamed 6-9 Dragons post Nikola Guzina in the blocks but the remainder of the King George stepped up to the challenge. “The whole year everybody has disrespected my other guys,” Dragons coach Darko Kulic told Varsity Letters. “But when we played in a tournament in the fall without Nikola . . . we finished second in the Drive Classic. I said to everybody, ‘people think we’re just one man, but we’re not.’ There’s Romel, (point guard) Alejandro (Rios), Silvio, Gareth and down the line. Everybody was just stepping up and giving us what we needed.” Silvio Suchy said “we all had to step up. We knew they were going to double (Guzina), so we just tried to hit our shots. I was ready. We were all prepared.” Gareth Wintjes said “we have been preparing for this all season. Summer, we were like we’re coming in, provincial finals and we’re taking down the reigning champs [Charles Hays]. That’s how it’s going to go.” Romel Eyobe paced the Dragons with 18 on 7-13 from the floor, 4-8 from the arc, 4 assists and 6 steals. Silvio Suchy added 15 on 5-12 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 4-5 from the line and 7 boards. Jodhan Uppal added 13 on 5-8 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 2-3 from the line and 4 boards. Maksim Kovacevic added 13 on 5-10 from the floor, 3-4 from the line, 7 boards and 2 assists. Gareth Wintjes scored 13 on 5-10 from the floor, 3-4 from the line, 2 boards and 2 assists. Nikola Guzina added 12 on 3-7 from the floor, 6-8 from the line, 5 boards, 5 assists, 2 blocks and 6 steals. Nathaniel Eyobe notched 7 on 2-3 from the arc and 1-1 from the line. Adam Spano added 4 on 2-6 from the floor and 8 boards. Alejandro Rios scored 2 on 1-8 from the floor, 0-4 from the arc, 5 boards, 4 assists and 2 steals, while Caden Osmack, Yashar Kiarash, Maxim Astak, Kaz Nickel, Marko Bjeljac and O’neil Vij were scoreless. The Dragons hit 30-70 (.429) from the floor, 8-22 (.364) from the arc and 16-21 (.762) from the line, while garnering 39 boards, including 14 on the offensive glass, 23 fouls, 16 assists, 14 turnovers, 3 blocks and 15 steals. Nate Crust led the Lions with 19 on 7-18 from the floor, 2-5 from the arc and 3-5 from the line. Taine Clague added 13 on 4-8 from the floor, 5-9 from the line and 11 boards. Cormick Brown notched 12 on 4-10 from the floor, 4-9 from the arc, 0-1 from the line, 2 assists and 3 steals. Coban Scott scored 11 on 4-11 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 3-5 from the line and 2 boards. Liam Bondoreff scored 3 on 1-4 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 1-2 from the line and 3 boards. Makhail Bondoreff added 3 on 0-4 from the floor, 3-3 from the line and 3 boards. Keagan Bondoreff scored 2 on 0-1 from the floor and 2-2 from the line. Terry Chen added 2 on 1-3 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc and 2 steals, while Joe Yan, Steven Truong, Jaden Dosanjh and Dylan Brown were scoreless. The Lions hit 21-62 (.339) from the floor, 6-19 (.316) from the arc and 17-27 (.630) from the line, while garnering 25 boards, including 6 on the offensive glass, 17 fouls, 10 assists, 19 turnovers, 1 block and 8 steals.
In the bronze medal match, the 4th-seeded Mill Bay Brentwood College clubbed the 6th-seeded Victoria Lambrick Park Lions 81-52 after leading 19-17, 44-34 and 64-44 at the quarters. Shaw Blaisdell paced Brentwood with 20 on 9-16 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-3 from the line and 4 boards. Jack Napier-Ganley added 16 on 7-13 from the floor, 2-5 from the arc, 4 boards and 4 steals. Olin Dahlstrom notched 16 on 8-9 from the floor, 0-1 from the line, 10 boards and 2 assists. Feury Kelly scored 7 on 3-7 from the floor and 1-4 from the arc. Dylan Gage added 6 on 3-7 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 4 boards and 2 assists. Juan Navarro notched 6 on 1-8 from the floor, 4-5 from the line, 10 boards and 6 assists. Jamie Trow scored 4 on 2-5 from the floor and 2 boards. Lorenzo Garcia notched 2 on 1-5 from the floor and 2 steals. Benn Bonnovsky added 2 on 1-2 from the floor and 0-1 from the arc. Justin Watt scored 2 on 0-1 from the floor, 2-2 from the line and 5 boards, while Matthias Streblow and Ifeanyi Ayadiuno were scoreless. Brentwood hit 35-76 (.461) from the floor, 3-13 (.231) from the arc and 8-11 (.727) from the line, while garnering 44 boards, including 13 on the offensive glass, 13 fouls, 15 assists, 18 turnovers, 1 block and 15 steals. Taine Clague paced the Lions with 15 on 4-16 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 7-10 from the line, 7 boards and 2 assists. Cormick Brown added 10 on 4-14 from the floor, 2-9 from the arc, 2 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Coban Scott notched 10 on 4-10 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 6 boards and 2 steals. Makhail Bondoreff scored 9 on 4-10 from the floor, 1-6 from the arc, 3 boards, 2 assists and 4 steals. Dylan Brown added 8 on 3-9 from the floor, 2-6 from the arc and 7 boards, while Liam Bondoreff, Joe Yan, Nate Crust, Steven Truong, Jaden Dosanjh, Keagan Bondoreff and Terry Chen were scoreless. The Lions (coached by Ed Somers and Colton McKee) hit 19-69 (.275) from the floor, 5-20 (.167) from the arc and 9-12 from the line, while garnering 30 boards, including 8 on the offensive glass, 17 fouls, 7 assists, 19 turnovers, 2 blocks and 9 steals.
In the final, the top-seeded Prince Rupert Charles Hays Rainmakers stomped the 2nd-seeded Vancouver King George Dragons 67-45 to capture their second consecutive (and fifth overall) provincial crown. The Rainmakers led 21-12, 29-25 and 47-34 at the quarters. Tournament MVP Kai Leighton notched a double-double as he dominated the paint. “It’s just trusting my guys, and they put a lot of trust in putting the ball in my hands,” Leighton told Varsity Letters. “I know that when I am not feeling it, they can rely on me.” The Rainmakers also received double-digit efforts from point guard Tyler Jones, off-guard Rylan Adams and forward Kaden Pagens, as well as lockdown defensive performance from Brendan Eshom. “We just had guys that take pride in the defensive side of the game,” said Rainmakers assistant Ryan Bishop. … Kai did a great job on (6-9 Dragons forward Niko Guzina), and then when Kai got in foul trouble, Brendan Eshom … he’s been our guy all year defensively, he really stepped up and took so much pride in it. … At the half, we went into the locker room and just told the guys that the first five minutes were going to be huge, especially when you looked at how poorly we played against St. Thomas Aquinas (in the quarterfinals) and Brentwood College (in the semifinals). We came out flat in both of those game, but today we stepped it up and we just kept attacking. … (After the graduation of star post Liam McChesney), when you lose a 6-9 guy like that it hurts. We didn’t have that rim protector so the guys all just stepped up and played defence. These guys all worked so hard all summer and they embrace the team game. … [And] we have a point guard (Tyler Jones) who can penetrate at will, we did a great job running the offence and Kai is just an animal.” Tournament MVP Kai Leighton told BChighschoolbasketballchampionships.com that “those are two of our best defensive games in the last two years and we saved them for the last game of the season. Our defence was constant all game but our shots weren’t really falling, It’s a zone defence so you have to make them work, you have to swing the ball and eventually the shots will start falling.” Dragons coach Darko Kulic said “give credit to them. They played a good game, they came out, they wanted it. My boys for sure wanted it. I think our shot just didn’t bounce. I am not going to complain, I am just going to say good game to Hays.” Kai Leighton paced the Rainmakers with 21 on 8-21 from the floor, 1-7 from the arc, 4-4 from the line, 15 boards, 2 assists and 3 steals. Tyler Jones added 19 on 5-16 from the floor, 4-11 from the arc, 5-6 from the line, 4 boards and 4 assists. Caden Pagens scored 15 on 6-8 from the floor, 3-3 from the line and 8 boards Rylan Adams notched 12 on 5-12 from the floor, 2-7 from the arc, 3 boards and 3 assists, while Kai Chan, Brendan Eshom, Devon Laliberte, Mason Dileta, Gregory Sutherland, Daylin Moody-Moraes, Chris Wilson, Dakota Knockwood, Aiden Leighton, Xander Gerritsen and Dylan Calder were scoreless. The Rainmakers hit 24-62 (.387) from the floor, 7-28 (.250) from the arc and 12-13 (.923) from the line, while garnering 35 boards, including 10 on the offensive glass, 9 fouls, 12 assists, 9 turnovers, 1 block and 5 steals. Defensive player of the tournament Nikola Guzina paced the Dragons with 17 on 5-16 from the floor, 2-5 from the arc, 5-6 from the line, 6 boards and 3 assists. Alejandro Rios added 13, 3-8 from the floor, 2 boards and 3 assists. Silvio Suchy notched 5 on 2-6 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc and 4 boards. Gareth Wintjes scored 4 on 2-7 from the floor, 10 boards and 3 assists. Jodhan Uppal added 3 on 1-2 from the arc. Romel Eyobe scored 3 on 1-10 from the floor, 1-8 from the arc, 2 boards and 2 steals, while Caden Osmack, Nathaneil Eyobe, Yashar Kiarash, Maxim Astak, Kaz Nickel, Marko Bieljac, Maksim Kovacevic, O’neil Vij and Adam Spano were scoreless. The Dragons hit 16-56 (.286) from the floor, 8-26 (.308) from the arc and 5-6 (.833) from the line, while garnering 24 boards, including 6 on the offensive glass, 14 fouls, 10 assists, 10 turnovers, 1 block and 6 steals.
The all-tournament team featured MVP Kai Leighton (Charles Hays); Cormick Brown (Lambrick Park); Jansen Balmaceda (St. Thomas Aquinas); Shaw Blaisdell (Brentwood College); Tyler Jones (Charles Hays); Gareth Wintjes (King George).
The 2nd-team featured: Juana Navarro (Brentwood College); Bergren Van Lent (George Elliot); Cameron Sale (D.P. Todd); Isaac Manji (Mulgrave); and Rory Goodwin (St. Thomas Aquinas).
The bronze Mill Bay Brentwood College: Matthias Streblow; Ifeanyi Ayadiuno; Jamie Trow; Shaw Blaisdell; Jack Napier-Ganley; Ben Bonnovsky; Dylan Gage; Feury Kelly; Noah Pasloske; Rei Kondo; Lorenzo Garcia; Olin Dahlstrom; Juan Navarro; Justin Watt; coach Blake Gage; assistant Liam Sullivan; manager Robin Gage; manager Richard Watson
The silver medalist Vancouver King George Dragons: Caden Osmack; Alejandro Rios; Nathaneil Eyobe; Yashar Kiarash; Maxim Astak; Silvio Suchy; Kaz Nickel; Jodhan Uppal; Nikola Guzina; Marko Bjeljac; Romel Eyobe; Maksim Kovacevic; Gareth Wintjes; O’neil Vij; Adam Spano; coach Darko Kulic; coach Randy Chan; coach Roger McBride; coach Hanif Karmali; assistant Matt Sinclair; assistant Steve Scrimshaw; assistant Nenad Obradovic; manager Regan Li
The gold medalist Prince Rupert Charles Hays Rainmakers: Tyler Jones; Kai Chan; Brendan Eshom; Devon Laliberte; Rylan Adams; Mason Dileta; Gregory Sutherland; Daylyn Moody-Moraes; Chris Wilson; Kai Leighton; Dakota Knockwood; Aiden Leighton; Caden Pagens; Xander Gerritsen; Dylan Calder; coach Mel Bishop; assistant Ryan Bishop