In different divisions, two Surrey teams are in the semifinals at the BC School Sports boys provincial basketball championships at Langley Events Centre tonight (Friday, March 8).
Tamanawis Wildcats will take on Victoria’s Oak Bay in the 4A tier semifinal, for largest schools in B.C., starting at 7 p.m. in the Arena Bowl. Elsewhere, Pacific Academy Breakers will battle West Vancouver’s Collingwood in a 2A division semi, 8:45 p.m. at Centre Court.
Tamanawis topped Vancouver College 65-54 in Thursday’s quarterfinal game, after the Newton team opened the tournament Wednesday with a 95-52 romp over Heritage Woods.
The 4A final game is set for Saturday (March 9) starting at 7:45 p.m. The other semifinal sees Victoria’s Spectrum team take on West Vancouver.
Pacific Academy has made the semifinals after beating Lambrick Park on Thursday and Nechako Valley on opening day.
The 2A final is Saturday at 2:45 p.m., Arena Bowl. The division’s other semi involves Langley Christian and Brentwood College.
On Thursday, Tamanawis was trailing 39-35 in the third quarter and then scored 20 of the next 24 points, defeating the Fighting Irish 65-54. Arjun Hehar finished with 20 points while Sartaj Bhangu added 17 for the Wildcats.
Also Thursday, the #2-ranked Pacific Academy was led by 41 points from Jaden Mesfin. The Breakers were down three after a quarter but held the Lions to eight points over the next 10 minutes and led by double digits for nearly the entire second half. Mesfin scored 15 in the fourth quarter alone.
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Several basketball teams repping Surrey schools dribbled their way to various levels of success over the past couple of weeks, with senior boys games in action at Langley Events Centre (LEC) this week.
The busy sports complex on 200 Street plays host to 10 provincial championship tournaments detailed on bchighschoolbasketballchampionships.com, for boys and girls teams in multiple divisions.
Four Surrey squads are playing in the 4A boys provincials, including Tamanawis (ranked #4 heading in), Semiahmoo (#6), Lord Tweedsmuir (#10) and Sullivan Heights (#12). Heading into action Friday, Tamanawis is the only Surrey team that still has a shot at the B.C. banner in the 4A tier.
In the small-school A division, École Gabrielle-Roy is repping Surrey as the #9-ranked team. The public Francophone school’s Team Phénix, mostly Grade 11 players, recently won the Fraser Valley title and is playing at basketball provincials for just the second time (the first was four years ago, in 2020).
In all, 64 senior boys teams will play 128 games at the LEC, with championships to be decided Saturday afternoon and evening. Tickets are sold at the door, and games are streamed for a fee on the website TFSETV.ca.