In the opening round: …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Saanich Spectrum Thunder scorched the 16th-seeded Cranbrook Mount Baker Wild 80-46 after leading 33-15, 58-18 and 74-35 at the quarters. Spectrum coach Tyler Verde told Varsity Letters that “our whole theme, since we won Islands, has been ‘Four games.’ Doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we’re going to treat it like a provincial final. That was the last time we played here, and we want to treat every game like that because we want to do it again.” The Thunder opened the game on an 8-0 run and then added 12-0, 12-0 and 13-0 runs before the half was over. “Get an early lead, show why we’re No. 1, play good defence, not get hurt, and get ready for tomorrow – that was our goal,” Verde said. “We came out and ran some different stuff, tried some different presses, just to see how the guys would respond to it, and they obviously responded well.” Justin Hinrichsen paced the Thunder with 14. Tyler Felt added 13, Harkaran Dhah 12, J Elijah Helman 9, Harper Kopp 7, player of the game Gunnar Barlee 7, Sahil Ark 6, Mateo Williamson 5, Jannic Espinosa 2, C.J. Zuno 2 and Arvin Sidhu 2, while Toluwani Ariyo, Aris Mariano, Bjorn Wilson and Evan Enns were scoreless. Imman Vito scored 12 to pace the Trojans. Detroit Canuel added 8, Kieran Shankowsky 6, Ty Gauthier 6, Joshua Tichauer 5, Nick Jantz 2, Alex DeAngelis 2, Gabe Cory 2 and Clark Reimer 2, while Nolan Driver and Cayden Nour were scoreless. The Trojans (coach Jason Tichauer, assistant Connor Hall, athletic director Sean Sinclair) also included Olly Williams. …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded West Kelowna Mount Boucherie Bears dispatched the 9th-seeded Port Moody Heritage Woods Kodiaks 95-85. The Kodiaks led 20-17 after one quarter and 42-37 at the half. The Bears led 67-58 after three quarters after closing out the frame with a 13-1 run. Bears coach Kelly Broderick told Varsity Letters that “the last time our school was at (senior boys) provincials was 1984, I think they were double A at the time. It’s not just about this team, it’s our whole community, including the school and our past alumni guys. We’ve tried for 20 years to come to this tournament, and we’ve had a lot of teams ranked over those years, but it’s been this battle . . . and this was our first real moment to do it. … It felt like we were in between 100 moments at all times. But we’re built on resiliency – this whole season has been like that. We’ve been the underdog, but we just won’t quit. I love these guys . . . even when it’s rough and it’s not flowing properly, they just believe in each other. It’s just so fun to be around them. I’ll go to battle with them any day. We expected their pressure – Heritage Woods doesn’t have a ton of size, but they have a ton of grit. They use their speed and they use what they have. It took us a while to get it to our big, and really find him the right spacing. Our guards were pressured so much, the flow was just off. Once we settled into our spots and got into our sets and just relied on what we do, it started to slowly unwind.” Noah Watters paced the Bears with 42. Bennett Messer added 22, Sahayven Sehra 15, Hayao Miyazaki 9, Gabe Katona 4 and Hunter Finch 3, while Sam Burge, Cole Westerman, Ty Goruk, Ben Boyd, Jackson Glendinning, Torin DeMarinis and Munraj Dhaliwal were scoreless. Owen Maloney scored 23 to pace the Kodiaks (coach Roj Johal, athletic director Nikki Rampuri). Dylan Wallace added 17, Vuk Lekovic 14, Caleb Park 10, Afu Bullock 8, Krishan Anantharaj 4, Matthew Purdy 4, Kai Yoon 3 and Elijah Pederson 2, while Bowen Jia, Svenson Chiu, Abtin Asagolsorkhi, Alex Dymock, Oscar Auyeung and Kai Stannel were scoreless. …………………………………………………… The 13th-seeded Abbotsford Senior Panthers stunned the 4th-seeded Surrey Tamanawis Wildcats 82-77. The Wildcats led 23-21 after one quarter. The score was knotted at 41 at the half. The Panthers led 68-60 after three quarters. The Panthers Parnaam Sidhu blitzed with Wildcats with 11 treys. “Every game we go into, we think we can win,” Sidhu told Varsity Letters. “I had to put the team on my back and do what I do . . . Coach told me if I get a little bit of room, shoot it. Against a 2-3 (zone defence), I pretty much get open shots. If I have a little bit of room, I’m shooting that thing.” The Panthers played a 1-2-2 zone press and then fell into a trapping 2-3 zone, while generated a host of turnovers. The Wildcats missed a chance to tie the score with a minute to play but a trey rolled off the rim. Abby’s Ishaan Dhaliwal two free throws. Wildcat Anand Sandhu countered by driving the court for a layup. But Panther Tony Dabi iced the upset with a driving bucket. “We told the guys on Sunday after the seeding show that everyone was going to think we’re underdogs,” Panthers coach Kyle Claggett said. “But we knew we had a chance to pull off the upset. We just told our guys, ‘You’ve got to play like a bunch of dogs.’ We knew if we scored above 75, we haven’t really lost a game this year. So we said we’ve got to fly, shoot a lot of threes . . . just run and gun, run and gun. That was also one of our best rebounding games – we had 20 o-boards. We stuck to our game plan the whole time.” Claggett said Sidhu is “the best shooter in the province, by far.” Parnaam Sidhu led the Panthers with 41. Abhay Badhesha added 15, Ishaan Dhaliwal 11, Tony Dabi 10, Harshaan Rai 3 and Ravjodh Gill 2, while Vicky Khosa, Nevin? Singh, Gurvir Gill, Sukhraj Brar, Jorge Rodriguez De Roa Castro, J Guron and Rajan Sidhu were scoreless. Victor Cortel scored 26 to lead the Wildcats. Anand Sandhu added 17, Sunny Dhami 15, Luka Guzina 14, Caleb Gomez 3 and Keon Gonzales 2, while Gurjowan Cheema, Sayvic Dhami, Sahib Sidhu, Raunak Singh, Manavh Gosal, Kyler Eykhout, Sahib Samra, Daksh Sabharwal and Arman Samra were scoreless. The Wildcats (coach Mike McKay, assistant James Johnston, assistant Manny Dulay, assistant Chris Randing, assistant Aurel David, assistant Par Bains) also included Raunak Singh. ………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Vancouver St. George’s Saints dispatched the 12th-seeded Surrey Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers 81-66. The Panthers led 27-14 after one quarter. The Saints led 38-32 at the half and 52-48 after three quarters. The Saints limited the Panthers to a single point over 8 minutes of play bridging the third and fourth quarters, while scoring 25 themselves. Saint Dorian Glogovac told Varsity Letters that the team was determined not to lose in the first round for three consecutive seasons. “We remember the pain that was in the locker room last year – there were tears. That gives you a little bit more motivation. We were dealing with some nerves at the beginning, but at the end of the day, we knew what our abilities are. We just had to continue believing in ourselves and staying confident. Once we saw the ball go in the hoop a few times, we just got momentum.” Saints coach Guy da Silva said after the first quarter, he told his team “play loose and play free. That’s when we’re at our best. I also said, ‘Hey fellas, we’re a great defensive team. I know it doesn’t look like it right now, but we’ve just got to lock in.’ The goal was just to get it tied at half. … We turned it around with defence . . . we really dug in. We switched to our zone a little bit, and that got us going. And then we came back to our man (defence), and I think we just settled in. We did a really good job with the ball pressure, and those turnovers allowed us to get some buckets, because we were struggling to score.” Dorian Glogovac paced the Saints with 43. Willem Urban added 13, Aryan Sablok 10, Kosuke Matsubara 6, Inno DeCotiis 5 and Ian Tyler 4, while Ollie Ecker, Max Shen, Timothy Trinh, Franceso Coltellaro, Joey Geros, Raehaan Siddoo, Edward Ai, Brent Lu and Sehej Chaggar were scoreless. Apollo Greenlay led the Panthers with 20. Maahir Julka added 13, Tript Sooch 12, Joven Sihota 10, Gurtaj Hayer 7, Aryan Syal 2 and Sahib Waraich 2, while Arjun Kooner, Nikhail Syal, Myles Anderson, Sehaj Dulk, Jagvir Sidhu, Mackay Antonation and Noah Hadfield were scoreless. The Panthers (coach Mike Mitro, coach Chris Porteous, assistant Jaiden Reid, athletic director (Brien Gemmell) also included Jayden Creedy, Jaideep Athwal, Javion Pladley and Aaron Rai. …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded Nanaimo Dover Bay Dolphins torched the 15th-seeded Prince George Polars 95-62 after leading 21-15, 50-26 and 71-41 at the quarters. Dover Bay had qualified for the draw by defeating Victoria Oak Bay in sudden-death play-in to determine the zone’s second representative in the draw. BC rules prohibit a zone from having more than two represeantives, even though Victoria Spectrum, Victoria Oak Bay and Dover Bay had a combined 82-1 record against B.C. team outside their zone. The Dolphins won 90-80. Dolphins guard Evan Slater told Varsity Letters “it was a lot of pressure, but at the same time we had nothing to lose. We were going to win. We worked our butts off to get there. It would have been devastating for us (to not make provincials.) This team cares about it so much. And our coaches put so much work in for us. We really wanted that game.” Slater, who hit a trio from beyond the arc against the Polars, added that “we feel really confident. We’ve put in so much work. We’re just going to play our game.” Dolphins coach Darren Seaman said star Frank Linder has “got all the intangibles. The rebounding, both ends of the floor, the steals.” Seaman added that a second consecutive B.C. title (after winning the 3A title in 2024) was plausible. “We don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves. Right now, we’re just staying in the moment, one game at a time. But these guys have got the experience . . . for some of them, it’s the third year in a row. They’re pretty calm and cool.” Frank Linder led the Dolphins with 34. Hudson Trood added 10, Evan Slater 13, Van Suiter 9, Andrii Zhukov 6, Landen Ross 5, Joe Linder 4, Dane Schmidt 4 and Arsh Chahal 2, while Braedon Collins, Ahmed Eltahhan and Justyce Dahling were scoreless. Hunter Anderson scored 21 to pace the Polars. Kabir Bhathal added 12, J.B. Burguillos 9, Rvnoor Thandi 8, Isaac Mogus 5, Conor Burbee 4 and Harsh Cheema 3, while Eli Mogus, Logan Johnson, Atlin Mogus, Rajdeep Maghera and Basher Kora were scoreless. The Polars (coach Justin Rodger, athletic director Jasen Florell) also included Jacob Kenny and Ken Ishimwe. …………………………………………………… The 7th-seeded Surrey Holy Cross Crusaders clipped the 10th-seeded Abbotsford Yale Lions 84-67 after leading 19-17, 38-36 and 64-55 at the quarters. The Crusaders took command with a 10-2 run, featuring a pair of treys and a driving layup by Marko Juan, midway through the final quarter. Coach Anthony Pezzente told Varsity Letters that “we settled down a little bit (after halftime). We are really Grade 11 heavy, so some of the nerves were there. But we took care of the basketball better (in the second half) and executed a little better on the offensive end. It’s funny what happens when you take care of the basketball – the execution level improves.” Juan said “I played varsity last year as a Grade 10 and I think that helped me. It prepared me to be a leader on this team. And in practice we do scenarios about executing to finish the game.” Pezzente said his troops did a great job of containing Yale star Taige Robers in the second half. “Taige is an incredible basketball player. He’s s a really tough guard. But we knew if we could key on him we’d have some success and we did. Our guys did a great job of executing our defensive game plan. They worked their asses off to body a big boy like that.” Okezi Urefe led the Crusaders with 23. Marko Juan added 22, Prince Davidson 14, Logan Mirkovich 11, Nate Unabia Davenport 7, Max Mathers 4 and Harjap Purewal 3, while Larsen McComb, Nate Obviar, Reiner Fajardo, Paolo Emata, Josh Brown, Sam Shchepotkin, Damon Tomyk and David Dalupang were scoreless. Taige Roberts scored 25 to pace the Lions. Aaron Adams added 19, Saheb Chahal 7, Joseph Thoutenhoofd 6, Alex Manuel 5, Besian Shala 4 and Kaleb Ginter 1, while Will Chae, Johann Tran, Isaac MaddalozoTou, Kavi Brar, Oak Bohn, Isaac Nyvall, Brady McIntosh and Tony Guirguis were scoreless. The Lions (coach Euan Roberts, assistant Ace Brar, manager Ali Tessarolo) also included Adriatik Shala and Ki Wong. …………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded Vancouver College Fighting Irish clipped the 14th-seeded Coquitlam Centennial Centaurs 80-65 after leading 26-15, 48-39 and 63-58 at the quarters. Fighting Irish coach Ryan Shams told Varsity Letters that “we shoot the three in bunches a little bit. We’ve had games where we’ve hit 20-plus threes this season, but we know we can score in different ways. We can get you with whatever. … We’re not the biggest team height-wise, but we’ve got guys like [Gianlucca] Tognetti and 6-foot-5 Grade 11 starter (Ashton) Wong that can catch the ball at the rim and get inside as we saw later in the game. That’s what makes us pretty hard to guard because we’ve got six or seven guys that can score.” Fighting Irish guard Andres Garcia said “we really stepped it up on defence, made them have to make tough decisions. We picked up the pressure and that really worked to help us pull away. … Obviously, we were hitting (from long range) early, but they adjusted to that. They ran us off the (three-point) line, so we attacked on the inside.” Andres Garcia paced the Fighting Irish with 36. Ashton Wong added 12, Lucas Tan-Ngo 9, Marco Mayuga 7, Lucas Lee 6, John Anthony 5 and Gianluca Tognetti 5, while Nathan Chen, Winson Del Rosario, Sam Asong, Dylan Arabiana, Jackson Hu, Micah Mayott, Lucas Gonzales and Chijioke Uzozie were scoreless. Alex Birsan scored 33 to pace the Centaurs. Taisho Gilmour added 20, Pouyan Ghadjahani 5, Adam Teglasi 3, Emerson Davis 2 and Marcus Perry 2, while Elijah Neibergall, Peyton Yerbury, Tamim Paiwandzada, Matthew Hackett, Ethan Toy, Zach Kralj, Joseph Keeler and Leki Bloomfield were scoreless. The Centaurs (coach Lucian Sauciuc, coach Rob Sollero, coach Alan Kaselj) also included Kevin Ryu. …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Port Coquitlam Terry Fox Ravens nipped the 11th-seeded Surrey Semiahmoo Thunderbirds 86-84. The Thunderbirds led 27-23 after one quarter and 55-46 at the half. The score was knotted at 64 after three quarters. The Ravens clawed to their first lead in the fourth quarter when Jayson Ikani notched a pair of buckets in the paint, and a pair of free throws, following by pair from the line by Marvin Reyes with 30.1 seconds to play. They then forced a turnover by tying up Totems’ guard/forward Dimitri Pomonis with 14 seconds to go. Reyes hit another free throw to push the lead to 86-84. A desperation trey by Thunderbird Arjun Dulay’s clanged off the rim at the buzzer. Ravens coach Rich Chambers told Varsity Letters “oh my goodness. It’s been like that the whole season. We were up and down all over the place. I never know what it’s going to look like, ever. … Two thirds of the year, we got out-physicaled. The last third of the year, not so much. We’ve kind of lifted our level of physicality. … (The referees) allowed it to be such a physical game, both ways. It wasn’t to anybody’s advantage. They were consistent the whole game, the referees.” Ikani said “we’re a young team, but it’s the senior level, so we’ve got to play like seniors.” Jayson Ikani led the Ravens with 26. Marvin Reyes added 25, Haven San Pedro 9, Korbin Longquist 9, Maksym Cichecki 8, Deklen Martin 5, Tyree Cabeza 2 and Matthew Schnear 2, while Diego Rodrigues Castro, Glayden Johnson, Jesse Marchand, Matthew Klassen, Noah Jeon, Joel Pelland and Zackary Golab were scoreless. Jack Snead paced the Thunderbirds with 32. Dimitri Pomonis added 18, Arju Dulay 12, Matthew Nielsen 10, Armaan Dulay 5, Rhys Dobson 3 and Matthew Blagdon 2, while Zeeshan Alvi, Dilan Suriya, Philip Potashov, E Sun, Oscar Antscherl, Jacob Brown, Rhys Dobson, Dev Bagal and A Mackay were scoreless. The Thunderbirds (coach Les Brown, assistant Johnson Hu, assistant Riley Barker, assistant Jake Dhillon, manager Dany Shen, manager Josh Pereira, athletic director Tony Chio) also included Taranvir Sangha.
In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Saanich Spectrum Thunder dusted the 8th-seeded West Kelowna Mount Boucherie Bears 77-59 after leading 21-4, 41-27 and 62-41 at the quarters. They led by as many as 27. Thunder coach Tyler Verde told Varsity Letters that “we knew they’d be scrappy, we knew they had some kids who hit some shots, but again, for us, it’s just doing our thing. We know if we play sound, good defence we’re going to be tough to beat. … They played physical on Tyler [Felt] and he needs to get used to that because that’s going to be a lot of the rest of his career. I think we came out a little nervous maybe because yesterday maybe wasn’t as much a game for us. It’s always tricky to get up for a game but we got going, and defensively we were excellent.” Justin Hinrichsen paced the Thunder with 28. J Elijah Helman added 16, Tyler Felt 13, C.J. Zuno 9, Harkaran Dhah 5 and Harper Kopp 4, while Jannic Espinosa, Arvin Sidhu, Gunnar Barlee, Mateo Williamson, Aris Mariano, Bjorn Wilson, Evan Enns, Yuvi Atwal and Sahil Ark were scoreless. Hayato Miyazaki led the Bears with 31. Noah Watters added 11, Bennett Messer 10, Sahayven Sehra 3, Ty Goruk 2 and Hunter Finch 1, while Sam Burge, Cole Westerman, Ben Boyd, Jackson Glendinning, Gabe Katona, Munraj Dhaliwal and Torin DeMarinis were scoreless. The Bears (coach Kelly Broderick) also included Javier Mallol.
The 5th-seeded Vancouver St. George’s Saints scorched the 13th-seeded Abbotsford Senior Panthers 88-58 after leading 23-10, 54-20 and 73-33 at the quarters. Saints coach Guy da Silva told Varsity Letters that “our guys did a great job executing the game plan. I thought (Tamanawis) let (Parnaam Sidhu) get cooking and he’s really the guy that goes for them so we just said that we’re going to face guard him real tough.” Da Silva said he defensive-minded Kosuke Matsubara on Sidhu. “He doesn’t get a lot of points. He doesn’t get a lot of press. But he is a true warrior. (Sidhu) didn’t have an inch today because (Matsubura) was in his pocket all day. And that was the key. We took him out, and then let the other guys get into transition.” Panthers coach Kyle Claggett said “they call it March Madness for a reason, a 13 seed coming in, and St. Georges has probably the best player in the province in Dorian [Glogovac]. He is a three level scorer, and I think he is one of the top three in the province. When we guarded him, he was finding the kick out, hitting cutters, and my guys are a little inexperienced. We have a lot of Grade 11s and our Grade 12’s this year didn’t make it last year. Our whole goal this was to come here, win a game and from here on out, we’re just trying to get one more.” Inno Decotiis and Dorian Glogovac each scored 18 to lead the Saints. Willem Urban added 13, Ian Tyler 9, Aryan Sablok 8, Raehaan Siddoo 7, Kosuke Matsubara 5, Max Shen 5, Ollie Ecker 2, Timothy Trinn 2 and Joey Geros 1, while Franceso Coltellaro, Edward Ai, Brent Lu and Sehej Chaggar were scoreless. Harshaan Rai paced the Panthers with 18. Parnaam Sidhu added 13, Abray? Badhesha 9, Ravjodh Gill 7, Rajan Sidhu 4, Ishaan Dhaliwal 3, Tony Dabi 2 and Jasvaich??? Guron 2, while Vicky Khosa, Nevin? Singh, Gurvir Gill, Sukhraj Brar, Jorge Rodriguez de Roa Castro were scoreless.
The 2nd-seeded Nanaimo Dover Bay Dolphins whipped the 7th-seeded Surrey Holy Cross Crusaders 95-72 after leading 33-21, 52-36 and 77-56 at the quarters. Dolphin Joe Linder blitzed the Crusaders, including draining seven treys, scoring his team’s first 14 points in the second half and repeatedly igniting, or capping, transition runouts. Dolphins coach Darren Seaman said “I kind of lost track of how much he was actually doing. What an amazing game for him. You could tell he was in his groove and so we just let him go.” Linder said “it just came to me in the moment, just getting open shots and finally getting some shots to fall. It’s really cool when we can knock down the three-pointer. I feel like we’re a pretty unstoppable team, especially with our size inside.” Joe Linder paced the Dolphins with 37. Frank Linder added 27, Van Suiter 12, Evan Slater 11, Hudson Trood 8 and Ahmed Eltahhan 2, while Braedon Collins, Landen Ross, Andrii Zhukov, Arsh Chahal, Justyce Dahling and Dane Schmidt were scoreless. Logan Mirkovich scored 24 to pace the Crusaders. Okezi Urefe added 16, Max Mathers 10, Prince Davidson 4, Reiner Fajardo 3, Harjap Purewal 2 and Nate Obviar 2, while Larsen McComg, Nate Unabia Davenport, Paolo Emata, Josh Brown, Marko Juan, Sam Schepotkin, Damon Tomyk and David Dalupang were scoreless. The Crusaders (coach Matt LeChasseur, coach Jeff Dadson, coach Anthony Pezzente, coach Graham Bonar) also included Adrian McKenzie, Jon Girard and Robyn Florendo.
In the last quarterfinal, the 6th-seeded Port Coquitlam Terry Fox Ravens stunned the 3rd-seeded Vancouver College Fighting Irish 92-83. The Fighting Irish led 27-15 after one quarter and 45-31 at the half. The Ravens led 63-59 after three quarters. The Ravens fell behind by 20 in the first half but coach Rich Chambers told Varsity Letters that his troops rallied behind the notion of playing for Canadian icon Terry Fox, a former student at the school. Raven Marvin Reyes kept draining treys to ignite the rally. “We just wanted it more,” Reyes told Varsity Letters. “We knew we were hungry and that we wanted a win. This was our get back game. We were 0-3 (versus Vancouver College on the season heading in) so we really wanted that win.” Chambers said that Reyes was unbelievable. “The best he’s shot it in two years. I am astounded. He was playing out of his mind. … I think Terry Fox basketball is about a process. We play all the tough teams and we get our ass kicked, right? Even in league we finished third, but we kept grinding it out, and then won the Fraser North. But I never thought we’d be here, though.” Marvin Reyes paced the Ravens with 41. Jayson Ikani added 17, Korbin Longquist 15, Maksym Cichecki 8, Haven San Pedro 3, Deklen Martin 3, Zackary Golab 3 and Noah Jeon 2, while Diego Rodrigues Castro, Gladyen Johnson, Jesse Marchand, Matthew Klassen, Tyree Cabeza, Matthew Schnear and Joel Pelland were scoreless. Ashton Wong scored 25 to lead the Fighting Irish. Andres Garcia added 19, Lucas Tan-Ngo 13, Gianluca Tognetti 10, Nathan Chen 9, Marco Mayuga 5 and Lucas Lee 2, while Winson Del Rosario, John Anthony, Sam Asong, Dylan Arabiana, Jackson Hu, Micah Mayott, Lucas Gonzales and C.J. Uzozie were scoreless. The Fighting Irish (coach Ryan Shams) also included Christian Tan.
In the semis, the top-seeded Saanich Spectrum Thunder nipped the 5th-seeded Vancouver St. George’s Saints 81-79. The Saints led 10-2 early and 18-14 after one quarter. The score was knotted at 35 at the half. The Thunder led 60-49 after three quarters. But Saint Willem Urban hit a trio from beyond the arc to rally St. George’s in the fourth frame. Dorian Glogovac notched a trey that trimmed the Thunder margin to 72-66. Justin Hinrichson countered with a pair of free throws. But Glogovac was fouled at an attempted trey and hit all three from the line to make it 74-69 with Harper Kopp got a layup on the press break and Tyler Felt was fouled on a dunk attempt, pushing the Thunder lead to 77-69. But with 27.8 seconds to play, Glogovac hit a twisting, fading trey over two players to make it 79-74. Urban pilled the ball for a runout to trim the margin to three. J Elijah Helman hit 1-2 from the line, but Glogovac again hit a trey to draw the Saints within 80-79. Felt hit 1-2 from the line with 5.3 seconds to play. Glogovac grabbed the rebound, and his pull-up from midcourt fell off the rim. An attempted putback at the buzzer by Urban misfired. Glogovac told Varsity Letters that “it hurts, man. I mean, you work so hard for this your whole life dreaming of this moment, and you come up one shot short, it hurts for sure. … I’m grateful for the opportunity to play here. We worked so hard, and I’m so grateful for the team. I said, I’m going to leave everything I’ve got out here, no regrets. I’m so proud of the guys. We fought, we gave it everything we had. Spectrum came out on top today, and they deserved it.” Thunder coach Tyler Verde was left marvelling over the talents of Glogovac. “There’s not much you can say – he’s a hell of a player. I really like Dorian’s game. He works hard on his craft, he’s extremely talented, and he hit some crazy, crazy shots. We played them at the beginning of the season (a 78-73 Spectrum win in the finals of the Welcome Back Invitational in Duncan), and he did something very similar. So he likes playing against us. … We did not play our best today by any means. Even first half, they wanted it more than us, they got more offensive rebounds, that kind of stuff.” J Elijah Helman paced the Thunder with 32, while nabbing 13 boards. Tyler Felt added 26, C.J. Zuno 13, Harper Kopp 5 and Justin Hinrichsen 5, along with 14 boards, while Jannice Espinosa, Arvin Sidhu, Gunnar Barlee, Mateo Williamson, Aris Mariano, Bjorn Wilson, Evan Enns, Yuvi Atwal, Harkaran Dhah and Sahil Ark were scoreless. Dorian Glogovac paced the Saints with 53, while nabbing 14 boards. Willem Urban added 11, Aryan Sablok 6, Kosuke Mtasubara 4, Inno De Cotiis 2, Joey Geros 2 and Ian Tyler 1, while Ollie Ecker, Max Shen, Timothy Trinh, Franceso Coltellaro, Raehaan Siddoo, Edward Ai, Brent Lu and Sehej Chaggar were scoreless.
In the other semi, the 2nd-seeded Nanaimo Dover Bay Dolphins dusted the 6th-seeded Port Coquitlam Terry Fox Ravens 92-64 after leading 23-14, 49-34 and 69-49 at the quarters. Dolphin Frank Linder told Varsity Letters that the key was “just rebounding, just working hard and rebounding. Offence, with this team, it comes. But we’ve just got to work hard and focus on our rebounding.” Frank Linder paced the Dolphins with 20. Van Suiter added 19, Joe Linder 18, Evan Slater 14, Hudson Trood 8, Andrii Zhukov 7, Landen Ross 2, Ahmed Eltahhan 2 and Dane Schmidt 2, while Braedon Collings, Arsh Chahal and Justyce Dahling were scoreless. Jayson Ikani paced the Ravens with 20. Maksym Cichecki added 10, Korban Longquist 7, Haven San Pedro 6, Marvin Reyes 5, Matthew Klassen 5, Zackary Golab 5 and Deigo Rodrigues Castro 4 and Joel Pelland 2, while Glayden Johnson, Jesse Marchand, Deklen Martin, Noah Jeon, Tyree Cabeza and Matthew Schnear were scoreless.
In the bronze medal match, the 5th-seeded Vancouver St. George’s Saints nipped the 6th-seeded Port Coquitlam Terry Fox Ravens 78-75. The Ravens led 18-16, 40-32 and 59-58 at the quarters. Dorian Glogovac paced the Saints with 39. Inno Ce Cotiis added 11, Aryan Sablok 9, Willem Urban 8, Kosuke Matsubara 6 and Max Shen 5, while Ollie Ecker, Timothy Trihn, Francesco Coltellaro, Joey Geros, Ian Tyler, Raehann Siddoo, Edward Ai, Brent Lu and Sejeh Chaggar were scoreless. Jayson Ikani scored 28 to pace the Ravens. Marvin Reyes added 15, Maksym Cichecki 11, Deklen Martin 6, Korbin Longquist 5, Haven San Pedro 4, Zachary Golab 4 and Tyree Cabeza 2, while Glayden Johnson, Jesse Marchand, Matthew Klassen, Noah Jeon, Matthew Schnear, Caleb Burnird and Abhejeet Marwaha were scoreless. The Ravens (coach Rich Chambers, assistant Tony Scott, athletic director Doug Corbett) also included Diego Rodrigues Castro, Joel Pelland and Mato Misic.
In the final, the top-seeded Saanich Spectrum Thunder dusted the 2nd-seeded Nanaimo Dover Bay Dolphins 81-66 to capture their second consecutive title. The Thunder led 16-15, 42-30 and 53-50 at the quarters in the all-Vancouver Island affair. The Thunder took command with a 10-2 run early in the fourth quarter. The Thunder had won three of four meetings with the Dolphins during the season. “We knew going into the next one, it didn’t matter.” Spectrum coach Tyler Verde told Varsity Letters. “It was close. Every time we played them, it almost felt like a final. … I am incredibly proud because I know how hard this is to do.” Dover Bay broke to an 11-4 lead, but Spectrum began attacking the Dolphins zone with an offence designed to create space along the baseline for 6-9 Tyler Felt and ripped off a 19-4 run. But the Dolphins repositioned their zone and forced the Thunder to the perimeter, allowing them to rally with a 22-11 run to draw within 55-52 early in the fourth quarter. The Dolphins rallied to within 4 with just under five minutes remaining. But the Spectrum hit critical shots against expiring shot clocks down the stretch and iced it at the line. Dolphin Frank Linder said “we have been switching from man to zone the whole season and we played zone today. I mean, it worked and it didn’t work at the same time. We changed up the zone to stop the shooter and to stop Felt, but I mean, they are an amazing team. They worked great together and they found a way.” Dolphins coach Darren Seaman said “we had a tough time dealing with their zone. We made adjustments so (Felt) wasn’t getting easy catches and it worked for a while. But we couldn’t get stops and we couldn’t get shots. It was really that simple.” Verde said Thunder guard Harper Kopp was critical playing the high post in the zone offence. “It was funny, coming back home (on the ferry) a few guys that are around the team came up to us and ‘Who decided to put Harper there? That was a stroke of genius’ but we didn’t know it was going to work. … There have been flashes from him his whole career. He is so fast, long and athletic. He just needed to put it together and figure it out.” Verde added that Justin Hinrichsen did an excellent job of containing Dolphin point guard Joe Linder. “We would like to have put Justin in (at the high-post) but Joe, he’s so pesky that we needed Justin out there,” said Verde. “And so when I talked to him about it, I said ‘You know this means you’re not going to shoot it as much?’ and he’s like ‘I don’t care.’ He is so selfless. … The last time we played Dover Bay (at the Vancouver Island championships), they played zone. It was completely different how we attacked it this time. Two completely different offences in a week-and-a-half. … It could have gone either way but we were mentally prepared. … It just shows how at the end of the day you put so much time in with these kids, over multiple years… and you have to build a trust in them and they have to trust you. By putting my trust in Harper and Justin and Tyler and J, having to trust Harper in that spot, and CJ… at the end of the day, every one of us, we just want to win. It didn’t matter who got MVP or all-stars. None of that matters. We just wanted to win as a group and (the players) have said this one almost means more because they are such a closer group than last year. They’ve spent more time together. They’re all seniors and they all got to grow together. We did it again, as a family.” Defensive player of the tournament Tyler Felt paced the Spectrum with 22. J Elijah Helman added 21, player of the game Harper Kopp 15, Justin Hinrichsen 11, C.J. Zuno 10 and Mateo Williamson 2, while Jannic Espinosa, Arvin Sidhu, Gunner Barlee, Aris Mariano, Bjorn Wilson, Evan Enns, Yuri Atwal, Harkaran Dhah and Sahil Ark were scoreless. Frank Linder led the Dolphins with 31. Joe Linder added 15, Van Suiter 15, Dane Schmidt 3 and Hudson Trood 2, while Braedon Collins, Landen Ross, Andrii Zhukov, Arsh Chahal, Evan Slater, Ahmed Eltahhan and Justyce Dahling were scoreless.
The all-tournament 1st team featured MVP Dorian Glogovac (St. George’s); Frank Linder (Dover Bay); Joe Linder (Dover Bay); Justin Hinrichsen (Spectrum); J Elijah Helman (Spectrum); and Tyler Felt (Spectrum).
The 2nd-team featured Jayson Ikani (Terry Fox); Okezi Urefe (Holy Cross); Alex Birsan (Centennial); Marvin Reyes (Terry Fox); and Van Suiter (Dover Bay).
The bronze medalist Vancouver St. George’s Saints: Dorian Glogovac; Willem Urban; Aryan Sablok; Kosuke Matsubara; Inno De Cotiis; Ian Tyler; Ollie Ecker; Max Shen; Timothy Trinh; Francesco Coltellaro; Joey Geros; Raehaan Siddoo; Edward Ai; Brent Lu; Sehej Chaggar; Jaevar KhunKhun; Roman Simmons; coach Guy DaSilva; assistant Chase Ruttenberg; trainer Calvin Pihoc; athletic performance Lisa White; athletic director Chris Blackman
The silver medalist Nanaimo Dover Bay Dolphins: Frank Linder; Hudson Trood; Evan Slater; Van Suiter; Andrii Zhukov; Landen Ross; Joe Linder; Dane Schmidt; Arsh Chahal; Braedon Collins; Ahmed Eltahhan; Justyce Dahling; coach Darren Seaman; athletic director Bill McWinnie
The champion Saanich Spectrum Thunder: Justin Hinrichsen; Tyler Felt; Harkaran Dhah; J Elijah Helman; Harper Kopp; Gunnar Barlee; Sahil Ark; Mateo Williamson; Jannic Espinosa; C.J. Zuno; Arvin Sidhu; Toluwani Ariyo; Aris Mariano; Bjorn Wilson; Evan Enns; Yuvi Atwal; coach Tyler Verde; assistant Brett Westcott; assistant James Pitblado; assistant Eric Hinrichsen; assistant Jugmohit Hundal