BC Boy’s Basketball Crowns Champion

Photos courtesy of Ryan Molag/Langley Events Centre

With the Provincial Basketball coming to a close this season was one that we relied on the professionalism of the media relations for the Langley Events Centre to share the info.

Enjoy the read from the Media Relations Gary Ahuja

A pair of championships are heading to Vancouver Island as Nanaimo’s Dover Bay Dolphins and Victoria’s Spectrum Thunder claimed two of the four BC School Sports Boys Basketball Provincial Championships, with Chilliwack’s Unity Christian Flames and West Vancouver’s Collingwood Cavaliers claiming the remaining two titles.

All four championship games were held at Langley Events Centre on March 9, wrapping up 128 games among 64 teams over four days. 

Complete scores, game sheets and news can also be found at www.bchighschoolbasketballchampionships.com. 

1A Tournament

This time, there would be no heartbreak for the Unity Christian Flames.

One year ago, the Chilliwack school fell short in the championship game. But on Saturday afternoon, the team found itself back in the title game at the 2024 BC School Sports 1A Boys Basketball Provincial Championships at Langley Events Centre.

In the 2023 title game, the Flames could not hold a fourth-quarter lead, as they were denied in their bid for a third consecutive championship. And on Saturday, the Flames this time found themselves trailing in the fourth quarter against the underdog Gidgalang Kuuyas Naay Breakers from Haida Gwaii, the tournament’s sixth seed who had already dispatched both the No. 3 and No. 2 seeds on their way to the championship game, a first in the history of their program.

Trailing by six entering the fourth quarter, the Flames trimmed the lead and then went on a game-changing 10-2 run (which included an and-1) to pull ahead for good. The Breakers did have a shot at a game-tying 3-pointer, but the ball found the rim instead.

“That fourth quarter was kind of an out-of-body experience,” described Unity Christian head coach David Bron. 

The No. 1 seed comes with lofty expectations and Unity Christian was not meeting those.

“When you are ranked first, you expect to play a certain way, and then you don’t, so I could tell the guys were down,” Bron said. 

But the aforementioned three-point play proved to be a key turning point in the coach’s eyes.

“My guys finally lit up; it was a grind until then,” the coach explained. 

A big key in the victory was the Flames using their significant size advantage – the team has four players between the heights of six-six and six-eight – and the fact they rolled with 10 players, compared to a tenacious Breakers squad which only had seven players hit the floor.

With so much height inside, the Flames dominated the glass with a 79-62 rebounding advantage. That number included 38 offensive rebounds, a number that blew Bron away when he heard the post-game stats.

Offensively, both Most Valuable Player Jay Smiens and Second Team All-Star Ryder Vanderkooi finished with 22 points apiece with Vanderkooi also hauling in 19 rebounds while Smiens had 10. Both players also finished with a pair of blocked shots.

Levi Burton led the Breakers with 20 points, eight assists and five rebounds while Trace Swain had 19 points and eight rebounds. The Breakers’ Greg Puterill was named the Championship Player of the Game with 11 rebounds, 10 rebounds and five steals, as well as a blocked shot.

In the bronze medal game, it was the St. Ann’s Academy Crusaders defeating Maple Ridge Christian 85-71. Maple Ridge Christian was also named the Most Sportsmanlike Team.

Both Gidgalang Kuuyas Naay’s Burton and Temo Laughlin were named to the First Team as all-stars, alongside Unity Christian’s Ryun Fukumoto, St. Ann’s Academy’s Nash Pearce and Maple Ridge Christian’s Carson Barber.

The Second Team All-Stars were Puterill, Vanderkooi, Viv Anderson Francois (St. John’s School), Darion Euastache Peone (Similkameen) and Mauro Lama (St. Ann’s Academy).

2A Tournament

The message was received on the very first day.

Facing the 14-seed Khalsa School Lions on day one of the BC School Sports 2A Boys Basketball Provincial Championships, the No. 3 Collingwood Cavaliers were pushed to the limit before scoring eight of the final nine points to secure a 77-69 win.

That set the tone for a tough four-day stretch which saw the Cavaliers win by single digits in three of those games, including Saturday night at Langley Events Centre as Collingwood secured their first provincial 2A title since 2016 with a 71-64 win over Mill Bay’s Brentwood College.

“We have some tough losses and I think our first game this week set the tone for how hard this was going to be,” explained Collingwood assistant coach Teresa Ross.  “We knew we just had to keep going and going. Just super proud of these kids.”

The Cavaliers led by as many as seven points in the first half and took a three-point lead to the locker room, before maintaining control over the final 20 minutes as their opponent could never get the deficit below six points.

“We just stuck with the game plan. We scouted ahead and knew what we wanted to do. We knew we had to be locked in,” Ross said.

Also helping the Cavaliers maintain that lead was a dominant presence in the paint as the team combined for 10 blocked shots, with both 6-5 forward Logan Albiani and 6-8 forward Avi Barha swatting four each. With that duo patrolling the paint at one end of the floor, guards Cy Bosa (22 points) and Finnegan Murphy (20) combined for 42 points.

Murphy was especially lethal from distance, draining five of his eight 3-point attempts. Murphy would be named the Championship Player of the Game.

For Brentwood College – which was a provincial finalist for a second straight year – Milan Pasquale had 16 points and Julian Bishop added 15.

The Cavaliers’ James Holm (eight points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals) would be named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament with Brentwood College’s Taylor Edwards earning the Best Defensive Player honours.

Earning First Team All-Star awards were Pasquale (Brentwood College), Darko Karac (King George), Jaden Mesfin (Pacific Academy), Willem Van Huizen (Langley Christian) and Blake Pye (Lambrick Park).

The Second Team All-Stars were Bosa, Cason Scott (Westsyde), Jonny Durkan (John Barsby), Amir Mojarradi (Collingwood) and Nathan Chiang (Pacific Academy).

Nanaimo’s John Barsby Bulldogs would earn the Most Sportsmanlike Team award and in the bronze medal game, it was Pacific Academy defeating Langley Christian 70-60.