Hansen Secondary’s basketball history was celebrated at the school on Tuesday at its Alumni All-Star Night.
Female and male Hurricanes basketball talent from the past, present and future locked horns, and close to 500 packed the school gym to take it all in.
The night opened with a team composed of Alumni women (2016 grads and earlier) taking on a squad made up of current seniors players and graduated players from 2017 and 2018.
The Alumni team started red hot, and didn’t cool off to post a 59-20 win. Tessa Parkins, a 2011 grad, was named the game’s most valuable player, collecting 15 points. Parkins still holds a single-game school record for scoring 63 points.
Up next was the three-point contest, with current player and Grade 12 student Ravdeep Brar winning the event.
The event closed with Alumni men taking on the male seniors and sophomores team. Early on, it was Jacob Doerksen and Ryan Anderson from the Alumni team thrilling the crowd, but the seniors and sophomores kept it close.
Joban Pandher, Josh Dhillon, Manraj Benipal, Aman Dhillon and Gurlal Mann all fuelled the seniors and sophomores team’s takeover of the game late in the second half, with three-point shots raining down from all five players. Pandher led the way for the team, collecting 21 points in the game.
Aman Dhillon then sealed the deal, with the seniors and sophomores trailing by one after he hit a big three-point shot to put his team back up by two.
The alumni went to the foul line right after that big shot, but were unsuccessful on both tries, and the seniors and sophomores held on for the 72-70 win.
Doerksen was named the most valuable player of the game, collecting 24 points, over 10 rebounds and over 10 assists to put together a triple-double in his return to the Hansen gym.
Event organizer Jas Gill said the game, which also celebrated the school’s 25th anniversary, was a huge success and will now become an annual event at the school.
“We raised over $1,000 in scholarships thanks to generous donations from families and alumni,” he said.
“We also were able to help provide limited-edition T-shirts for each sophomore and alumni which were all printed in-house. The remaining funds will help improve the program for years to come.
“This is set to be an annual affair in December and we look forward to bringing our past, present and future back into the same building. Special thanks to the Fraser Valley Bandits organization for sponsoring a VIP couch for the Eugene Reimer students and doing a raffle draw for two free tickets to opening night.”
In other local basketball news, Hansen’s Senior Boys Round Ball Classic runs until Saturday at the school and sees 16 of the top teams from across the province competing.
The annual W.J. Mouat Senior Boys Hawkball Tournament also runs until tonight (Friday) at the school.
Go to abbynews.com for coverage of both events.