Griffin Arnatt, headed next season to the University of Victoria Vikes as a prize recruit, etched his name alongside some starry past winners of the Island Quad-A boys’ high school basketball championships MVP award, from two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash and Olympian Billy Robinson to current UVic Vikes Diego Maffia and Jaden Touchie.
Arnatt led the Oak Bay Bays to their eighth consecutive and 27th overall Island title with a 94-58 victory over the Claremont Spartans in the final over the weekend at Lambrick Park Secondary. Since the final four teams were from the South Island, and there was the threat of snow on the Malahat, the final night of the tournament was shifted from Cowichan Secondary to the Lambrick Park gym.
The Bays, ranked No. 2 in B.C., advanced to the provincial championship tournament next week at the Langley Events Centre. The second Island berth will be decided tonight when Spectrum, which defeated the Belmont Bulldogs 68-61 in the third-place game, meets the Spartans in the challenge game tonight at 7 p.m. in the Claremont Secondary gymnasium.
There will be echoes of 1994 in tonight’s B.C. play-in game. The Island tournament MVP that year was Eric Hinrichsen of the Carihi Tyees, who went on to lead the UVic Vikes to a national title in 1997 and represented Canada in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. His son is Grade 10 Spectrum standout Justin Hinrichsen, who was named to the 2023 Island tournament first all-star team.
Hinrichsen and fellow first-team all-star Camden Sparks of Claremont will battle it out tonight for the second Island berth into provincials, as will second-team all-stars Adam Mount of Spectrum and Elijah Helman of Claremont.
Joining Hinrichsen and Sparks on the Island first all-star team were Thomas Beames and Matthew Magnan of Oak Bay and Michael Adarkwah-Nti of Belmont. Joining Mount and Helman on the second team were Finley Lillis of Oak Bay, Boyd Anderson of the Nanaimo District Islanders and Jace McDowell of the G.P. Vanier Towhees of Courtenay. Tyler Felt of Spectrum was named best defensive player and G.P. Vanier the most sportsmanlike team.
The B.C. second-ranked Dover Bay Dolphins, led by MVP Luke Linder, defeated the Alberni Armada 84-45 in the Island Triple-A high school boys’ championship game played at Stelly’s. The Wellington Wildcats beat Carihi 55-43 in the bronze-medal game to earn the third Island berth into the provincial championships next week at the LEC.
Provincial top-ranked Brentwood College, led by MVP Milan Pasquale, defeated the John Barsby Bulldogs 58-51 in the Island Double-A championship game at St. Michaels University School. Like Hinrichsen, Pasquale also carries forward an Island family hoops legacy as the son of former UVic Vikes national-champion Vito Pasquale and nephew of the late five-time UVic Vikes national-champion and two-time Olympian Eli Pasquale. The Lambrick Park Lions defeated the St. Andrew’s Sabres 65-34 in the bronze-medal game to gain the third Island berth into the B.C. championships next week at the LEC.
Nanaimo Christian, paced by MVP Calvin Vanderkooi, beat Brookes Westshore 81-68 in the Island Single-A championship game. Brookes Westshore is headed to provincials coached by former Oak Bay and Camosun College women’s star Aija Salvador. Ucluelet, meanwhile, defeated Victor Brodeur 58-37 in the bronze-medal game to earn the third Island berth into the B.C. championships at the LEC.
