Howard Tsumura was a long-time reporter for both the Vancouver Sun and Province.  He covered high school and university sports for both papers and he was renowned for promoting young athletes in all sports.  When the Province started to cut back on coverage, Howard started the Varsity Letters Blog so he could continue to cover high school sports, especially basketball.

Howard's influence has been so big in high school basketball that there is now a tournament named after him, which he naturally covers.  Collingwood's senior boy's team were invited to play in the Tsumura Basketball Invitational Select 16 this year.

Just like the BC Championships, the TBI follows the same format of four games in four days all played at the Langley Event Centre.  Collingwood opened the tournament on Wednesday with a 107-55 win over Maple Ridge.   Finn M was Player Of The Game .

On Thursday, the Cavs were equally impressive as they defeated Richmond Secondary 92-65.  Sam L led the way in this game with 20 points.

Collingwood hit triple-digits again in their semi-final as they ran Rick Hansen off the court 101-62.  Sam L was once again outstanding, while Tony L also won praise from Coach Wong for his excellent play.

In the final, the Cavs faced long-time rival King George.  The Dragons have been one of the top AA teams in the province for quite some time and spent most of last season as the #1 team.  However, after Langley Christian upset King George in the quarter-finals last year, it was Collingwood who went on to win the BC Championship.  

The Cavs entered the final with a sparkling 8-0 record and a reputation for up-tempo high scoring basketball.  With this in mind, the Dragons intentionally slowed the game down using maximum time on the 30-second on each possession.  They also caused Collingwood some major headaches with their 2-3 zone.  

The Cavs stumbled out of the gate and by the time they finally gained some momentum by pressing King George, it was too late.  Collingwood suffered their first loss of the season 62-58.  However, they hopefully have learned some valuable lessons and will be ready when they inevitably meet the Dragons again at the Vancouver Sea-To-Sky Zone Championships.

It is another exciting week for the Cavs as they will be travelling to Lord Byng Secondary in Vancouver tomorrow.  They are then one of the host schools for the North Shore's biggest tournament - The No Regrets.  Collingwood will be playing in their annual spirit game this Thursday at 12:30.

Tony L sinks a free throw as Jake M and Julian H fight for position.

Harry B drives baseline against Richmond in the Cavs' quarter-final win over the Colts.

Ardavan T works hard to compete for a rebound against Richmond.