In the opening round: …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Nanaimo Dover Bay Dolphins torched the 16th-seeded Prince George North Peace Polars 112-41 after leading 33-8, 59-19 and 84-28 at the quarters. Dolphin Ahmed Eltahhan told Varsity Letters that “we wanted to get those reps out against this team, have a good start at provincials. We don’t take any team lightly. We play as hard as we can. Everybody works hard in practice and that makes each other better.” Reserve grade 9 rookie Mark Menzyk said hitting back-to-back treys in the fourth quarter left “a good feeling. I’m so grateful to play with the senior boys this year. I was with the junior boys and our season ended unfortunately. We didn’t make it to provincials.” Dolphins coach Darren Seaman said “they never stopped playing hard, no matter what the situation was, whether we were up 50 or whatever it was.” Ahmed Eltahhan paced the Dolphins with 19. Dane Schmidt added 18, Kalem Morrison 15, Joe Linder 10, Landon Ross 9, Brydon Taylor 9, Markus Menzyk 8, Tanner Standewick 7, Yukun Li 6, Lucas Krampl 4, Manraj Parmer 4 and Vaughn Robinson 3, while Justin Roman was scoreless. Isaac Erickson paced the Polars (coach Ryan Galay, assistant Rob McClelland, assistant Trey Lopushinsky) with 16. Francis Wachira added 10, Deacon Auger 6, Joshua Matuod 4, Liam Caza 3 and Eli Bojczuk 2, while Cyrruz Palaqui Simon Louie and Adam Redford were scoreless. …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded Coquitlam Centennial Centaurs defeated the 9th-seeded Surrey Panorama Ridge Thunder 84-78 after leading 21-19, 38-34 and 59-56 at the quarters. Centaurs post Alex Birsan dominated the floor. “He got going,” Centaurs coach Lucian Sauciuc told Varsity Letters. “He’s so versatile, so tough to match up with because he can play outside, he can play inside, he’s got the mid-range (shot) and he’s so tough to stop in transition.” Birsan hit a pair of late treys to give the Centaurs the lead after one quarter and then took control of the paint. “That was a tough game and it required a lot of grit,” Birsan said. “We knew coming into it, it was going to be a feisty game and it was going to take a lot to gut out a win. … As long as I win, I’ll do anything I can to win, everything in my power.” Sauciuc said “that was a great game to be part of. Usually the 8-9 matchups are two evenly matched teams. I mean, give them credit, they hit so many shots. I thought we played pretty good defence at times, contesting, but they’ve been doing that all year, hitting shots from everywhere.” Alex Birsan paced the Centaurs with 46. Pouyan Ghadjahani added 10, Milan Bucan 9, Ethan Toy 7, Malory Jaune 6 and Josh Onyango 6, while Nicholas Castro, Peyton Yerbury, Zack Kralj, Gavin Walker, Jay Zhao, Joseph Keeler, Phoenix Hewitt, Leki Bloomfield and Settimo Gabel were scoreless. Gurtaj Hayer paced the Thunder (coach Jeevan Dhami, athletic director Jen Dudley) with 40. Jaideep Bhangoo added 18, Jaideep Athwal 10 and Abhout Singh 7, while Tanbir Rai, Adam Josan, Udhay Hazra, Nikolas Baxter, Ammar Rai, Dante Orie, Daman Punian, Gurshan Grewal and Khuzaima Tallal were scoreless. …………………………………………………… The 4th-seeded Kelowna Owls clipped the 13th-seeded Chilliwack G.W. Graham Grizzlies 88-76 after leading 28-13, 39-26 and 66-44 at the quarters. Finn Stewart was chosen player of the game for the Owls, while Nick Baker earned the laurels for the Grizzlies. Owls coach Harry Parmar told Varsity Letters that his troops failed to demonstrate a killer instinct. “My guys just don’t realize when it’s time to finish a team off. Just turn it up one more level. They just don’t understand that yet and it bothers me. … There’s a time to put a team away and they’re just laissez-faire about it.” Owl Wells Grundy said attacking in transition is the goal. “That’s what we work on a lot of the time in practice. Just contact finishing, getting to the rim.” Teammate Finn Stewart added that “it’s a mentality. … We just kind of fell asleep on the defensive end. As we started to push the lead out on the offensive side, we just kind of lolly-gagged on the defensive side.” Parmar said “offensively, we can score and we have a bunch of guys, not one or two. We’ve got five or six guys who can give you 15-18 (points). When you have that, all you need is the defensive piece and you should be tough to beat.” Wells Grundy paced the Owls with 25. Humraj Chahal added 19, Finn Stewart 18, Logan Parker 9, Jake McParland 8, Thomas Andersen 4 and Bennett Ferguson 2, while Nate Parmar, Miles McParland, Coulter Sieben and Judah Foster were scoreless. Beckett Goertzen paced the Grizzlies with 19. Nick Baker added 17, Kale Bartel 12, Jeremy Yilmaz 11, Grayson Mouritzen 2, Elijah Dodich 2 and James MacDonald 2, while Elijah Reid, Gooey Militao, Quinton McMillan, Kenji Tominez, Lincoln Schell, Alex Szegedi, Owen Baarda and Stephen Hummel were scoreless. The Grizzlies (coach Jake Mouritzen, associate Mark Rahmalo, associate Brent Janzen, associate Gavin Kheleh, team assistant Justin Gill, team assistant Dean Elliott) also included Mantaaz Grewal, Luca Risso, Cenny Solla and Dylan Martin. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Vancouver St. George’s School Saints dispatched the 12th-seeded Surrey Holy Cross Crusaders 74-59 after leading 19-16, 30-29 and 52-44 at the quarters. Saints coach Guy daSilva told Varsity Letters that it was “a great first half defensively, but we were a little bit tight on offence. We weren’t flowing enough. But we raised the defensive intensity (even higher) in the third quarter and that allowed us to get a couple of (baskets) in transition. We started to hit a couple of threes, see the ball go through the hoop, got to the free throw line and we started to get a little bit of momentum.” The Saints broke open a 33-33 game as Inno DeCotiis notched a trey and Roman Simmons a driving layup. “I like being aggressive,” said Simmons. “I don’t think anybody under the rim can stop me when I’m going all the way, full (tilt). … We knew it was going to be a tough game. They actually beat us earlier in the season. But when we started being more physical, getting rebounds … we started to pull away.” daSilva said Simmons is probably one of the best rim attackers in the province, if not the best.” Roman Simmons paced the Saints with 23. Inno DeCottis added 11, Raehaan Siddoo 8, Ian Tyler 8, Willem Urban 5, Aiden Glynn 3 and Pierce Simmons 1, while 15 points were unallocated. Sehej Chaggar, Francesco Coltellaro, Jack Redpath, Finn Henderson, Brody Kennedy, Calvin Shu and Jason Chen were scoreless. Okezi Urefe scored 18 to pace the Grizzlies (coach Matt LeChasseur, coach Jeff Dadson, coach Anthony Pezzente, coach Keith Wyman). Adrian McKenzie added 10, Marko Juan 9, Logan Mirkovich 8, Oreva Urefe 3, Harjap Purewal 3, Davin Dalupang 2, Larsen McComb 2 and Damon Tomyk 2, while Nate Unabia-Davenport, Luke Narvaez, Calen Taylor, Josh Brown and Lesean Fernandez were scoreless. ………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded Vancouver College Fighting Irish clipped the 15th-seeded New Westminster Hyacks 71-62. The Hyacks 10-0 early and 18-13 after one quarter. The Fighting Irish led 31-28 at the half and 54-46 after three quarters. “We knew that they were going to be a good team,” Irish coach Ryan Shams told Varsity Letters. “I told the guys at the start of this, every team here is going to be good – they had to fight for their lives to get here. We saw the tape, we saw that they’re big, they’re physical, and they’re underrated. When you’re at the B.C.’s, every team is going to give you a good battle, right? I think our guys were just really excited, and the nerves showed a bit. Everyone, when they step onto the Arena Bowl, they’re so excited for the moment. I think they got a little bit too excited and got playing a little bit out of character. But once we settled down, we started to play our game. We called a timeout, and we were really calm with the guys, went over what we needed to do. We were looking for Ashton [Wang]down low, try to get some easy looks and see the ball go in the hoop a couple times. That settled us, and we picked it up from there.” Hyacks coach Udhay Mangat said his team was underrated as 15 seed. “We call it Hyacks basketball – we like to make things interesting, whether we’re a 15 against a two seed, or whether we’re top dog (at zones), we like to let the game be close. We knew we could compete with them (the Irish). We watched six hours of film, and we knew what we needed to do. But their rebounding kind of killed us. We’re really proud. It’s the first time in 21 years that we’ve made it to provincials. So we’re happy to be here, and for us to play this hard against the No. 2 team in the province is really good.” Nathan Chen paced the Fighting Irish with 20. Ashton Wang added 20, Dylan Arabiana 10, Micah Mayott 10, Ethan Chiu 4, Lucas Tan-Ngo 3, John Anthony 2 and Lucas Holt 2, while Winson Del Rosario, Ren Hetherington, Sam Asong, Christian Tan, Marcus Faulkner, Jaxson Planta and Koen Li were scoreless. Djordie Komar scored 13 to pace the Hyacks ((coach Udhay Mangat, assistant Sylvester Appiah, assistant Myles Manolson, athletic director Peter Battistin). Daman Shoker added 13, Jasper Domingo 12, Kaman Kalia 12, Jesmin Krashnica 4, Gaby Alucema 3, Novak Neskovic 3 and Tayler Rebalkin 2, while Ivan Mercer, Jaylum Bhangu, Nigel Derasp, Emilio Locatelli, Maksims Baikovs, Kyle Christie and Rohan Rattan were scoreless. …………………………………………………… The 7th-seeded Surrey Semiahmoo Thunderbirds defeated the 10th-seeded Port Coquitlam Terry Fox Ravens 54-48 after leading 11-6, 28-24 and 39-36 at the quarters. The Thunderbirds notched an 8-0 run early in the fourth quarter. The Ravens Maxsym Cichecki and Diego Rodrigues Castro answered with buckets but Oscar Antscherl scored in transition and the Thunderbirds iced it at the line. Thunderbirds coach Les Brown told Varsity Letters that playing the Ravens is “always ugly. This is our third time playing Terry Fox at the B.C.’s in four years, and it’s always a grind. We struggle to score, they struggle to score, and it’s always a back-and-forth battle, always close. Richie (Chambers, Fox head coach) does a great job with his group. They play hard, we play hard – very similar teams. … I’m old-school – grew up playing for Richmond High, and that’s how we played. We really stress competing in everything – all our drills in all our practices, it’s compete, compete, compete. And when you’re tired, compete some more.” Thunderbirds guard Jack Snead said “we lost to Terry Fox in the first round last year, and there was a lot of, I don’t want to say animosity, but a lot of emotion coming into this game. We know they’re a physical team, we know the guys they have, and we just try to stick to our brand of basketball. We’re very gritty, we’re defensive-minded, and we’ve been here. This is my fourth time at senior provincials, and I know points are hard to come by – it’s defence that wins. We try to show that in our play, and I think we did a good job of that tonight.” Snead added that physical play is “something that I feel really feel separates a good player from a great player. You can be really good at basketball, but if you’re getting bumped around on the court, there’s nothing you can do about it. We really try to emphasize that, and especially tonight I really thought it showed. We were able to use our physicality to stay solid on on defence and force them to take tough shots, and hey – it got us the win out of it.” Jack Snead and Adam Mackay each scored 15 to pace the Totems. Philip Potashov added 13, Mathew Nielsen 6 and Oscar Antscherl 4, while 1 point was unallocated. Gabe Eaton, Zeeshan Alvi, Dilan Suriya, Gur Warrya, Zach Dockery, Jacob Brown, Eric Sun, Matthew Blagdon and Dev Bagall were scoreless. Maksym Cicheki scored 16 to pace the Ravens (coach Rich Chambers, assistant Tony Scott, athletic director Doug Corbett). Marvin Reyes added 12, Deklan Martin 9, Robi Felipe 6, Korbin Lonquist 2 and Diego Rodrigues 2, while Gabi Tomozei, Joel Pelland, Ricky Adam, Noah Jeon, Kouichi Uemoto, Caleb Barnes and Ansgar Liebscher were scoreless. …………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded Surrey Tamanawis Wildcats dispatched the 14th-seeded Abbotsford Yale Lions 69-60. The score was knotted at 18 after one quarter. The Wildcats led 39-33 at the half and 53-52 after three quarters. The Lions lost starting point guard Saheb Chahal to injury early in the fourth, while Wildcat Anand Sandhu notched 8, including a fadeaway, desperation trey as the shot clock expired, to give Tamanawis a nine-point lead with two minutes to play. “We’re pretty Grade 12 heavy on the top end – these guys have been through a lot,” Wildcats coach Mike McKay told Varsity Letters. “They’ve been in a lot of big games. It was kind of weird that we were a little nervous for this game – I thought we’d be more comfortable. But Yale came out early, made a bunch of shots, and we were chasing them for most of the first half.” Lions coach Euan Roberts said officiating proved the difference. “Every time we had momentum going, they took it from us. … Our guys played so hard. We practiced hard, and we knew what we were in for – we knew it was going to be a tough game. We wanted to leave the floor knowing we’d competed with one of B.C.’s best teams. And we did that.” Anand Sandhu paced the Wildcats with 21. Luka Guzina added 18, Gurjowan Cheema 17, Victor Cortel 7, Arman Samra 4 and Manavh Gosal 2, while Harpuneet Singh, Uno Arinzana, Sahib Sidhu, Gurpartap Thiara, Caleb Gomez, Elijah McCann, Sahib Samra, Daksh Sabharwal and Isaac Fox-Brown were scoreless. Taige Roberts paced the Lions with 21. Isaac Nyvall added 11, Adri Shala 11, Besi Shala 6, Saheb Chahal 6, Isaac Tou 3 and Alex Manuel 2, while Johaan Tran, Brady McIntosh, Zach Bastien, Ethan Iyiola, Oak Bohn, Moxon Dahlen, Oz Carnahan and Ki Wong were scoreless. The Lions (coach Euan Roberts, assistant Ace Brar, manager Ali Tessarolo) also included Thomas Tako. …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Oak Bay Bays defeated the 11th-seeded Vancouver Kitsilano Blue Demons 93-87 in overtime. The Bays led 24-23 after one quarter. The Blue Demons led 43-40 at the half. The Bays led 63-61 after three quarters. The Blues Avery Neilson forced overtime with a driving layup with six seconds to play to knot the score at 78. With the Bays trailing 84-83 with a minute to play in overtime, and having missed 5 open looks against a 2-3 zone, Olan Lake nailed a triple and then drove for a layup to ice the win. Rookie Bays coach Diego Maffia told Varsity Letters that “I have all the trust in the world in these guys. Every single guy on this team shoots the ball, and we’ve got to have confidence – that’s our mentality. The whole time I was telling the guys, ‘Be confident, be confident, be confident, because the next one’s going to fall.’ And it kind of worked out that way. To be honest, we talked about it as a coaching staff – there’s not a single guy on this team who deserves it more than that kid (Lakos). As a captain, as a leader, he’s done so much for this team. To step up in a big game like this to get us through, I’m so happy for him.” Maffia added that Simon Wischaruk-Burr carried the Bays in the blocks, while earning player of the game laurels. “At this point, I’m not surprised what that kid does every single day. He’s an absolute animal. He’s ultra-competitive, he wants to win so badly – I’ve never seen a guy who’s that fearless and competitive in a long time.” Lakos said “it felt great, obviously. We’ve got some height advantages on our team, and I’m confident the guys can get my rebounds, and I know they have trust in me. In the final moments, I know they trust in me to take the final shots, and they trust me to make those shots. It was a lot of fun.” Maffia, recuperating from a torn ACL that delayed his transition to European pro ball, said he was having “fun” coaching. “I’m learning probably as much as they are learning. It’s their first time here, and it’s my first time here being a coach. We’re trying to figure it out.” Simon Wiwcharuk-Burr paced the Bays with 35. Olin Lakos added 20, Goodwill Niwemuto Bugwiza Jabo 18, Ty Humber 11, Marcus Kao 6 and Bryson Tait 3, while Tano Campbell, Korn Vootiprux, Colin Threlfall, Marcus Truong, Matteo Horsting, Lucas Border, Matthew Jonker, Lucas Campbell and Darius Ceasar were scoreless. Avery Nielson paced the Blue Demons with 31. Justin Saffou added 18, Will Staub-French 17, Erik Bothner 11, Jezreel Strickland 8 and Nick Koodoo 4, while Evan Borisoff, Mahiro Pleysier-Takebayashi, Mason Wright, London Cripps, Paul Warrington, Mateo Nakasone, Jack Moran and Hayden Rittberg were scoreless. The Blue Demons (coach Nik Cochran, assistant Sylvester Noel, assistant Bill Lee, assistant Kenny M, athletic director Wes Lefsrud) also included James Rideout.
In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Nanaimo Dover Bay Dolphins dispatched the 8th-seeded Coquitlam Centennial Centaurs 78-69. The Dolphins led 22-16 after one quarter. The Centaurs led 38-35 at the half. The Dolphins led 56-54 after three quarters. The Dolphins closed it out with a 9-0 run. Dolphins coach Darren Seaman told Varsity Letters that “we kind of just turned it over to the players offensively. They won the game on that end. … We did make some adjustments defensively and as soon as they saw that working, I think it kind of fed our offence and they started feeling better.” Grade 10 Dolphin Tanner Standerwick, who hounded star Centaurs post Alex Birsan, said “for sure, it was definitely very physical. He’s a really big guy, strong. He’s definitely a handful. Good matchup. I did my best and came out on top.” Seaman said Standerwick’s battle with Birsan was “awesome. … He’s the man for the job. That’s the stuff he likes doing. That’s the stuff he takes a lot of pride in. He’ll be really happy. Like, he won us the game.” Dolphin Dane Schmidt dominated the blocks on offence, including a pair of buckets off deft spins on inbounds plays, said “I take pride in that. We rep that play in practice so many times. … We’ve been battle-tested all year with close games. Coach is just telling us all the time to just weather the storm and keep going.” Dane Schmidt paced the Dolphins with 30. Joe Linder added 29, Ahmed Eltahhan 10, Tanner Standerwick 4, Yukun Li 3 and Landen Ross 2, while Markus Menzyk, Vaughn Robinson, Kalem Morrison, Justin Roman, Brydon Taylor, Lucas Krampl and Manraj Parmer were scoreless. Alex Birsan scored 39 to pace the Centaurs. Ethan Toy added 13, Pouyan Ghadjahani 13, Josh Onyango 2 and Settimo Gabel 2, while Nicholas Castro, Peyton Yerbury, Zach Kralj, Gavin Walker, Milan Bucan, Jay Zhao, Malory Jaune, Joseph Keeler, Phoenix Hewitt and Leki Bloomfield were scoreless. The Centaurs (coach Lucian Sauciuc, coach Rob Sollero, coach Alan Kaselji) also included Jack Cerney.
The 4th-seeded Kelowna Owls defeated the 5th-seeded Vancouver St. George’s Saints 92-84 after leading 26-2 early and 29-14, 44-36 and, after notching a 26-6 run, 75-54 at the quarters. The Saints rallied to within 87-82 on a driving layup by Pierce Simmons but the Owls hung on for the win. Owls coach Harry Parmar told Varsity Letters that, down the stretch, “I figured we had to play some defence. … Well, there’s this persona that we can only play transition basketball. We can play in the half court if we have to. I mean, we can do either way you want. Right? We want to run, don’t get me wrong, but if we want to play in the half-court, we’re playing in the half court. … I wanted to get the ball to our post [Thomas Anderson] more and he can be very good. And to win this at the end, very rarely do you win it in transition. You gotta remember, that basketball is played 70% in transition, though. So only 30% of the time do you really have to get to the half court. So as long as you have some good half-court stuff, good things should happen.” Saints coach Guy da Silva said “they’re a great team and they play more our style. … They want to get up and down (the court). First team to 100 (points) is probably going to win that one. … I think Kelowna just came out with a little bit more hunger, a little bit more focus. Their first quarter was great. They had 29 in the first. We just seemed a little bit on the back foot. We’re a real young team and they got a lot of Grade 12s, and I think that showed. But I was so proud of how hard we fought at the end to get it back.” Wells Grundy paced the Owls with 30. Finn Stewart added 16, Logan Parker 15, Jake McParland 12, Thomas Anderson 10, Humraj Chahal 7 and Miles McParland 2, while Nate Parmar, Coulter Sieben, Bennett Ferguson and Judah Foster were scoreless. Willem Urban scored 24 to pace the Saints (coach Guy daSilva, assistant Chase Ruttenberg, assistant Lashawn Axon, trainer Calvin Pihoc, athletic director Chris Blackman). Roman Simmons added 19, Inno DeCottis 16, Raehaan Siddoo 14, Pierce Simmons 5, Aiden Glynn 2, Ian Tyler 2 and Brody Kennedy 2, while Sehaj Chaggar, Francesco Coltellaro, Jack Redpath, Finn Henderson, Xander Bellamy, Calvin Chu and Jason Chen were scoreless.
The 2nd-seeded Vancouver College Fighting Irish clipped the 7th-seeded Surrey Semiahmoo Totems 83-70 after leading 21-17, 47-29 and 61-48 at the quarters before icing the game at the line. “This is a great group of guys, just a great group,” Fighting Irish forward John Anthony told Varsity Letters. “We’ve gelled together like no one has ever gelled together before. Our coaches have always supported off the court bonding and so on the court and off the court this team has just got closer and closer together. We’ve been playing together, a lot of us, since Grade 8. We have a big group of seniors this year and we all have so much love for each other and want to see each other succeed.” Fighting Irish coach Ryan Shams said “we are very composed. It’s a very special group of guys. In my 12 years of coaching this may be one of the most tight-knit brotherhoods I’ve ever had. We’ve played in a lot of big games throughout the year, our Saints games, the B.C. Catholics, our Emerald tournament, but I think most importantly we’ve got a big (roster). We’re very deep and we roll 10 or 11 deep today. We trust all the guys on the bench and I think that depth is what got us through tonight.” John Anthony paced the Fighting Irish with 16. Nathan Chen added 15, Lucas Tan-Ngo 15, Micah Mayott 14, Ashton Wong 10, Dylan Arabiana 4, Ethan Chiu 4, Ren Hetherington 3 and Wilson Del Rosario 2, while Sam Asong, Christian Tan, Marcus Faulkner, Lucas Holt, Marco Maric and George Panago were scoreless. Jack Snead scored 25 to pace the Totems (coach Les Brown, assistant Johnson Hu, assistant Rory Brown, assistant Jake Dhillon, manager Danny Shen, manager Shohei MacIntosh, athletic director Colin Plumb). Philip Potashov added 12, Matthew Blagdon 8, Adam Mackay 5, Oscar Antscherl 4, Eric Sun 3 and Matthew Nielsen 3, while Gabe Eaton, Zeeshan Alvi, Dilan Suriya, Gus Warrya, Zach Dockery, Jacob Brown and Dev Bagal were scoreless.
In the last quarterfinal, the 6th-seeded Victoria Oak Bay Bays edged the 3rd-seeded Surrey Tamanawis Wildcats 67-66 on driving baseline layup by Simon Wiwcharuk-Burr against three defenders with 10 seconds to play. “That kid’s got some heart and some competitive nature,” Oak Bay coach Diego Maffia told Varsity Letters. That was very impressive from that kid. He’s been playing well all season. He deserves it.” Wiwcharuk-Burr said “it’s just all those times . . . that you’re working these plays (in practice) that you hope you’ll be able to experience. I’m so grateful to be here, so grateful to be in a position like that. We work on those plays, last-second scenarios.” The Wildcats led 14-6 after one quarter and 30-20 at the half. The score was knotted at 46 after three quarters. The Wildcats notched an 8-0 run to take a 57-55 lead but Jabo and Kao responded with treys. The Wildcats Anand Sandhu hit a pair of free throws with 12.7 seconds to play to give Tamanawis a 66-65 lead, setting the stage for Wiwcharuk-Burr’s winner. Maffia said “in the first half, we weren’t hitting it and the coaching staff looked at each and we were thinking ‘we’ve got to trust these guys’.” Simon Wiwcharuk-Burr paced the Bays with 22. Marcus Kao added 21, Goodwill Niwemuto Bugwiza Jabo 17, Ty Humber 6 and Bryson Tait 1, while Olin Lakos, Tano Campbell, Korn Vootiprux, Colin Threlfall, Markus Truong, Matteo Hortsing, Lucas Border, Matthew Jonker, Lucas Campbell and Darius Ceasar were scoreless. Victor Cortel paced the Wildcats with 25. Luka Guzina added 18, Anand Sandhu 15, Arman Samra 5 and Gurjowan Cheema 3, while Harpuneet Singh, Uno Arinzania, Manavh Gosal, Sahid Sidhu, Gurpartap Thiara, Caleb Gomez, Sahib Samra, Daksh Sabharwal and Isaac Fox-Brown were scoreless. The Wildcats (coach Mike McKay, assistant James Johnson, assistant Chris Randing, athletic director Par Bains) also included Elijah McCann.
In the semis, the top-seeded Nanaimo Dover Bay Dolphins clipped the 4th-seeded Kelowna Owls 92-83 after leading 20-7 early and 22-9, 44-34 and 67-53 at the quarters. When asked to explain how a squad that had graduated the majority of its players from a squad that had made the final in 2025, had again made the final, Dover Bay coach Darren Seaman told Varsity Letters that “we practised for this moment. … Like, they practised every day for this moment. We spent time every day for that kind of pressure. So that pressure was easier than what the five guys experience in practice. … We just really put a lot of effort in planning into our practises and to prepare for these types of things.” Kelowna coach Harry Parmar said “we didn’t play. We were passive most of the game. Tentative, passive, a bunch of turnovers. They just take… you know, give credit to them as well. They hit some big shots but we just didn’t show up until maybe seven minutes left in the game. (Dover Bay) did some good things, but still, there was time to get in the game. We didn’t rebound the ball. We didn’t get back (on defence). All the little things have to go your way once you’re down.” Joe Linder paced the Dolphins with 41. Ahmed Eltahhan added 21, Dane Schmidt 17, Lucas Krampl 6, Tanner Standerwick 5 and Landen Ross 2, while Marcus Menzyk, Vaughn Robinson, Kalem Morrison, Justin Roman, Brydon Taylor, Yukun Li and Manraj Parmer were scoreless. Jake McParland paced the Owls with 16. Finn Stewart added 16, Humraj Chahal 15, Wells Grundy 14, Thomas Anderson 12 and Logan Parker 10, while Nate Parmar, Miles McParland, Coulter Sieben, Bennett Ferugson and Judah Foster were scoreless.
In the other semi, the 2nd-seeded Vancouver College Fighting Irish nipped the 6th-seeded Oak Bay Bays 70-69. The Fighting Irish led 17-15 after one quarter. The Bays led 29-27 at the half and 53-38 after three quarters after nothing a late 17-1 run. The Fighting Irish trailed by 11 with 90 seconds to play but ripped off a 12-0 run to pull out the win. The Irish’s 1-2-2 zone created panic in the Bays. They ripped off seven unanswered capped by a Nathan Chen and-one with 1:01 to play. They forced a jump ball and got possession with the alternating arrow. Lucas Tan-Ngo was fouled a trey. He hit 1-3 from the line but got the rebound on the third attempt and drilled a trey from the left wing, tying the game at 69 with 19.1 seconds to play. The Bays Olin Lakos attacked off the dribble but his right-handed layup hit the rim. Ethan Chiu drew a foul on a driving layup with 3.1 seconds. He hit the first but missed the second. Chiu told Varsity Letters that it was the “biggest moment of my life. I knew my teammates, my brothers, they all had my back. It’s an amazing feeling. Nerves? For sure. I was literally shaking at the line. Took a lot of deep breaths, calmed myself down, and I hit the shot.” Tan-Ngo said “it feels amazing. “This is the goal we’ve had since the start of the season . . . and we’ve never wavered.” Fighting Irish coach Ryan Shams told Varsity Letters that “you need a moment like this to make the story a little bit sweeter. … I blacked out. I’m going to have to watch the tape back and see what happened, because that was just a blur. The boys never gave up, and they stuck together. We’re going to the ’ship now. It’s crazy.” Bays coach Diego Maffia said “it’s going to hurt for a while, and that’s natural. I’ve been there before in the same circumstance, and there’s nothing you can do about it – it hurts. But one of the things we told our guys is, that’s why we play the game. That’s why basketball is basketball, that’s why March is March. That’s the beauty of the sport, the beauty of provincials – things like that happen. You think you have the game under control, and unfortunately, a couple plays happen.” Nathen Chen paced the Fighting Irish with 23. Lucan Tan-Ngo added 20, Ashton Wong 11, John Anthony 9, Ethan Chiu 5 and Dylan Arabiana 3, while Winson Del Rosario, Ren Hetherington, Sam Asong, Christian Tan, Micah Mayott, Marcus Faulkner, Koen Li, Marko Mariel and Lucas Holt were scoreless. Simon Wicharuk-Burr paced the Bays with 25. Marcus Kao added 22, Goodwill Niwemuto Bugwiza Jabo 7, Olin Lakos 7, Bryson Tait 5 and Ty Humber 3, while Tano Campbell, Korn Vootiprux, Colin Threlfall, Markus Truong, Matteo Horsting, Lucas Border, Matthew Jonker, Lucas Campbell and Carius Ceasar were scoreless.
In the bronze medal match, the 4th-seeded Kelowna Owls dispatched the 6th-seeded Victoria Oak Bay Bays 73-68. The Bays led 14-13 after one quarter. The Owls led 35-30 at the half and 61-47 after three quarters. Finn Stewart paced the Owls with 17. Logan Parker added 15, Humraj Chahal 15, Wells Grundy 14, Thomas Anderson 6 and Jake McParland 5, while Nate Parmar, Miles McParland, Coulter Sieben, Bennett Ferguson and Judah Foster were scoreless. Simon Wiwcharuk-Burr scored 22 to pace the Bays (coach Diego Maffia, assistant Graham Taylor, assistant Scott Kellum, manager Bill Lewis). Marcus Kao added 15, Ty Humber 15, Goodwill Niwemuto Bugwiza Jabo 8, Bryson Tait 5 and Lucas Border 2, while one point was unallocated. Olin Lakos, Tano Campbell, Korn Vootiprux, Colin Threlfall, Markus Truong, Matteo Hortsing, Matthew Jonker, Lucas Campbell and Darius Ceasar were scoreless.
In the final, the 2nd-seeded Vancouver College Fighting Irish torched the top-seeded Nanaimo Dover Bay Dolphins 94-67 to capture its first provincial crown since 1967. The Dolphins led 20-19 after one quarter. The Fighting Irish led 40-35 at the half and 66-48 after three quarters. The Dolphins had rallied to within 53-45 in the third quarter but the Irish ripped off a 13-0 run in 2:28 minutes of play to take command. Defensive player of the tournament and player of the game Micah Mayott notched a second-chance jumper. Lucas Tan-Ngo nabbed a defensive board, passed the ball to Ethan Chiu, who found Mayott for a trey. Tournament MVP Ashton Wong pilfered the ball from Dolphin Tanner Standwick, who whipped the ball to Tan-Ngo, who found Chiu for a corner trey. Tan-Ngo drove for a reverse layup and Chiu promptly notched another trey. The Dolphins never recovered from the onslaught. Fighting Irish coach Ryans Shams told Varsity Letters that “you know what? It’s funny, because at that time at TBI [Tsumura Basketball Invitational], I knew we had the pieces to do it. We just had to figure it out, right? We really learned how we’d have to play together and trust the coaches and trust each other. We just learned so much from that, and I really believe you kind of need those early speed bumps and losses to grow as much as you possibly can.” Losses during the season had nothing to do with schematic changes, he added. “It was just playing together. And playing for each other. We just stepped that up, right? So that’s all it really was. I really think that in high school basketball, it’s all about what group can come together and play for each other the most.” Fighting Irish assistant Isaiah Solomon, who’d toiled in a losing cause in the 2011 title game, said he told the team “just play loose,” said Solomon. “Like, just play loose, have fun, be present, enjoy the moment. And whatever’s gonna happen is gonna happen.” Shams said Wong was “the guy that as soon as I got the coaching job, I knew how good he could be, so I wanted him to get adjusted to senior as soon as we could and it all cumulated in that championship, and now he’s the provincial MVP. And his versatility was so key. People didn’t know what he was gonna do today. Shoot it, drive it, whatever.” Wong said “if you look at me last year and look at me today, I’m two completely different players.” Dolphins coach Darren Seaman said “we just couldn’t hit out shots (4-31 from the arc and 13-24 from the line). “I don’t know. We just didn’t have the level of concentration it took to be in that game. We put a ton of time in shooting, so I’m kind of just scratching my head. I guess we got to put more time in.” Ashton Wong paced the Fighting Irish with 37. Micah Mayott added 16, Ethan Chiu 13, Lucas Tan-Ngo 13, John Anthony 7, Nathan Chen 4, Dylan Arabiana 2 and Winson Del Rosario 2, while Ren Hetherington, Sam Asong, Christian Tan, Marcus Faulkner, Georgio Panago, Lucan Holt and Koen Li were scoreless. Dane Schmidt paced the Dolphins with 25. Joe Linder added 23, Landen Ross 9, Ahmed Eltahhan 6, Yukun Li 2 and Tanner Standerwick 2, while Markus Menzyk, Vaughn Robinson, Kalem Morrison, Justin Roman, Brydon Taylor, Lucas Krampl and Manraj Parmer were scoreless.
The all-tournament team featured MVP Ashton Wong (Vancouver College); Alex Birsan (Centennial), Dane Schmidt (Dover Bay), Joe Linder (Dover Bay), Lucas Tan-Ngo (Vancouver College) and Simon Wiwcharuk-Burr (Oak Bay).
The 2nd-team featured: Roman Simmons (St. George’s School), Jack Snead (Semiahmoo), Luke Guzina (Tamanawis), Wells Grundy (Kelowna) and Nathan Chen (Vancouver College).
The bronze medalist Kelowna Owls: Jake McParland; Finn Stewart; Nate Parmar; Wells Grundy; Logan Parker; Miles McParland; Coulter Sieben; Humraj Chahal; Bennett Ferguson; Thomas Anderson; Judah Foster; Jibril Ashour; coach Harry Parmar; assistant Brad Heuser; assistant Jay Johnstone
The silver medalist Nanaimo Dover Bay Dolphins: Fernando Machado; Vaughn Robinson; Landen Ross; Kalem Morrison; Joe Linder; Ahmed Eltahhan; Dane Schmidt; Brydon Taylor; Yukun Li; Tanner Standerwick; Manraj Parmer; Markus Menzyk; Lucas Krampl; Justin Roman; coach Darren Seaman; athletic director Bill McWhinnie
The champion Vancouver College Fighting Irish: Nathan Chen; Dylan Arabiana; Winson Del Rosario; John Anthony; Ren Hetherington; Lucas Tan-Ngo; Sam Asong; Christian Tan; Micah Mayott; Ethan Chiu; Marcus Faulkner; Georgio Panago; Marco Maric; Lucas Holt; Jaxson Planta; Ashton Wong; Koen Li; coach Ryan Shams
Note: The incomparable Howard Tsumura, whose Varsity Letters website is a must-read for all hoops fans, crafted an utterly magnificent wrap on the remarkable parallels between the Vancouver College Fighting Irish’s 1967 and 2026 title runs: https://varsityletters.ca/a-sunday-read-with-1967s-champs-a-mirror-to-their-own-basketball-souls-van-colleges-2026-fighting-irish-make-own-mark-snapping-the-curse-after-59-years-with-emphatic-win-over-dover-bay/