It was a championship-filled week for the Blue Jags, with the Senior Boys punching their ticket back to the BC AA tournament, the Grade 9 Boys capturing the Island title, and the Senior Girls preparing to compete as the No. 3 seed at the BC AAA Championship. From hard-fought playoff battles to standout individual performances, SMUS teams continue to build momentum at just the right time of year.
Senior Boys Basketball
The SMUS Blue Jags are heading back to the BC AA Senior Boys Basketball Championship tournament at the Langley Events Centre for a second straight season.
The Blue Jags clinched their BC berth by winning two straight games this past weekend to reach the championship final of the Island AA tournament at Shawnigan Lake School. The key victory was a dramatic 64-60 decision over the physical Highland Raiders of Comox – the North Island No. 1 seed – in a Friday semifinal.
Senior guard Dani Pelyhe scored 33 points to lead the Blue Jags past Highland, but the semifinal win didn’t come easily. SMUS got off to a terrible start against the bigger Raiders, trailing 16-3 late in the first quarter. But a torrid second quarter from Grade 10 callup Alex MacKay – who hit four threes and had 16 of his 25 total points in the period – pulled the Jags back to within two points, trailing 31-29 heading into the halftime break.
The Blue Jags came out of the locker room on fire, led by Pelyhe’s 12 third-quarter points, to carry a 48-39 lead into the final period. It looked as though SMUS would pull away, but the Raiders clawed back to within two points twice in the dying minutes. The gritty Blue Jags hung on, however, to advance to the final as Pelyhe added 14 more points in the fourth to preserve the victory.
That win, coupled with a 50-point decision by Highland over St. Andrew’s in Saturday’s Island third-place game, meant that the Blue Jags were guaranteed a BC berth as they headed into the final against Pacific Christian, the fourth-ranked AA team in the province.
SMUS battled hard in the championship game, but the size and physicality of the Pacers proved too much on the evening as they dominated the Blue Jags 44-23 on the boards en route to an 80-63 win. Pelyhe was outstanding once again for SMUS, with 33 more points in the championship game to earn Island tournament all-star honours, while MacKay added 15 points. The Blue Jags trailed 38-26 at the half and 59-39 after three before pulling to within 12 points at one stage in the fourth quarter. However, 23 offensive rebounds surrendered to the Pacers over the course of the game proved to be the decisive factor.
Senior guard Will Bateson scored 21 points — including 12 in the first quarter — to lead SMUS to a 76-36 victory over Gulf Islands in its opening game of the Island tournament on Thursday. Bateson earned player of the game honours for SMUS with four threes, while Pelyhe added 16 points, Henry Lake 11, and MacKay 10 in a well-rounded Jags attack. Pelyhe and MacKay earned player of the game honours in the semifinal and final, respectively.
The Blue Jags, who have been bolstered for this playoff run by the addition of four key players from the SMUS Junior Boys team, will now wait to see where they are seeded and what their draw looks like for the BC AA tournament which will run March 4 to 7 at the LEC.
The BC tournament draw will be unveiled on livestream this coming Sunday, March 1, beginning at 3 pm at https://www.youtube.com/@BCSSTV
Grade 9 Boys Basketball
The SMUS Grade 9 Boys continued their outstanding season by capturing the Vancouver Island Championship last Wednesday with a 52-33 win over host Oak Bay in the final of the eight-team tournament.
SMUS point guard Jerome Chan was named Island tournament MVP while teammates Kian Harris and Adrian Villen Diez were selected to the tournament all-star team.
Villen Diez scored 15 points to power the Blue Jags to a 48-47 win over Belmont in their Island semifinal last Tuesday evening. Danny Perrins added 13 points and Chan had 10 for the Grade 9 Jags.
The Blue Jags opened the Island tournament with a 59-47 victory over Brentwood College on Tuesday afternoon. Chan led the way with a 21-point effort in that one. Seb Divoky, who battled an ankle injury to contribute significantly for the Jags during the entire Island tournament, added 13 points, and Harris had 11.
The Blue Jags, who have lost just one game against Grade 9 competition this season, will now advance as the Island’s top seed for the 29th annual BC Grade 9 Invitational tournament, starting this Thursday in Vancouver.
The Blue Jags have been seeded No. 6 overall in the 24-team provincial tournament. The only Grade 9 team that has defeated SMUS this season is Burnaby South, the No. 1-seeded team in the entire BC draw. Other top seeds include No. 2 Centennial, No. 3 Brookswood, No. 4 Vancouver College, and No. 5 Argyle. The only other Island team in the field is Oak Bay, which is ranked No. 20.
The Blue Jags will play their first game of the BC tournament on Thursday at Lord Byng Secondary at 3:30 pm against the winner of an earlier game between Surrey’s Queen Elizabeth and Bert Bowes Middle School of Fort St. John.
Senior Girls Basketball
Fresh off winning the Vancouver Island title earlier this month, the SMUS Senior Girls head into this week’s BC AAA Championship tournament at the Langley Events Centre with the No. 3 overall seed and a lot of momentum.
The Blue Jags, who last year won the BC AA title before being moved up to the AAA level this year, will face 14th-ranked Steveston-London Secondary in their opener of the 16-team draw at 11:45 am on Wednesday on the LEC’s Centre Court.
If SMUS is successful getting past its first-round matchup, it will face the winner of sixth-ranked Pitt Meadows and 11th-ranked Yale in a Thursday quarterfinal.
In 6'3" Grade 11 forward Mikaela Dubé, SMUS boasts a strong inside presence and senior guards Elspeth Rodger and Mya Beare are strong contributors from the perimeter. In addition, the Blue Jags will be bolstered by call-ups from the SMUS Junior Girls team.
The Blue Jags are on the same side of the draw as No. 2-ranked Langley Christian and those two teams could potentially match up in a Friday semifinal. The other side of the 16-team tournament is headlined by No. 1-ranked Vernon and the fourth-ranked Isfeld Ice, whom the Jags beat in the Feb. 14 Island final at Vic High.
“I feel quite good about our draw,” said SMUS Head Coach Lindsay Brooke. “I am happy to play an opponent (in Steveston-London) that we haven’t seen before. We will have had a solid week of preparation for that game.”
Brooke sees Vernon and Langley Christian as among the top teams in the tournament field but believes the Blue Jags have the capacity to beat anybody.
“We would have to have our ‘A’ game, but anything is possible.”
All games in the BC tournament can be livestreamed for a fee at https://stream.prestosports.com/tfsetv
Junior Girls Basketball
The SMUS Junior Girls Basketball team completed a highly successful season with a 10th-place finish in the 44th BC Junior Girls Invitational Tournament which ended Saturday in New Westminster.
The Blue Jags went 2-2 overall in the BC tournament after going undefeated through the regular season and winning both the Lower Island and Island playoff titles.
The Blue Jags drew a fast and physical Walnut Grove team in their first game of the BC tournament last Thursday. SMUS fell behind 18-5 after one quarter and was unable to get closer than seven points after that, eventually losing 52-43 to the Gators. Natalie DiFelice-Oinonen scored 12 points and was selected player of the game for the Junior Jags.
SMUS bounced back strongly with two tournament wins on Friday. Ali Brooks scored 16 points to earn player of the game honours and lead the Jags to a 54-31 victory over Duchess Park of Prince George on Friday morning. That same evening, SMUS beat the OKM Huskies 62-39, getting 13 points from Brooks, 12 from Piper Geddes, 11 from DiFelice-Oinonen, and 10 from Ella Buckley, who was named the SMUS player of the game.
The Blue Jags wrapped up the tournament with a 45-18 loss to Windsor on Saturday. Lauren Arndt earned player of the game selection for SMUS in that one.
“With a team of mostly Grade 9s, it was a great learning experience and we’re hoping to make a return to the BCs next year as an older, more veteran team,” said SMUS Head Coach Tina Lum.
Squash
Fifty-two SMUS athletes from Grades 5 through 12 competed in the final Squash BC SMUS Silver tournament of the year this past weekend, earning a total of 22 top-three finishes.
A dozen SMUS Squash team athletes are heading to provincials this week at the Vancouver Squash Academy, with competition beginning Friday.
SMUS top-three results from the SMUS Silver tournament:
Tier 1
Keith Alexander, 2nd
Amos Guan, 3rd
Tier 2
Charlie Chae, 2nd
Tier 3
Jimmy Wen, 1st
Evan Margawang, 2nd
Tier 4
James Webb, 1st
Etienne Denux, 3rd
Tier 5
Shaan Arneja, 1st
Tristan Huang, 2nd
Woody Carswell, 3rd
Tier 6
August Belke, 3rd
Tier 8
Henri Jungkind, 1st
Adam Zhao, 2nd
Tier 9
Max Wang, 1st
Branson Behn, 2nd
Katie Liu, 3rd
Tier 10
Rayna Wu, 1st
Victoria Xin, 2nd
Benjamin Sowden, 3rd
Tier 11
Evelyn Pereira, 1st
Madison Bashforth, 2nd
Hadley Kelln, 3rd
