Remember the name: Kaman Kaila.
The New Westminster athlete is now part of BC School Sports history as he recently accomplished something that had never been done before at the junior boys basketball championships.
The feat: score 50 or more in a single game at the provincials tournament.
Kaila's final total: 51 points.
The Grade 10 guard tore up the court against Richmond on Sunday, Feb. 25, in lifting the New West Hyacks to a 103-65 victory in their third match at the championships.
The number broke a 53-year record once touted by Brian Noga when he scored 46 points for Alpha Secondary (Burnaby) during a 1971 provincials game.
"We are extremely proud of Kaman on this amazing accomplishment, it’s not easy to score 51 in a game let alone doing so in eight-minute quarters," said Hyacks head coach Udhay Mangat in a post on social media. Mangat is also the coach for New West Elite Basketball, of which Kaila is one of its developing athletes.
"He is one of the hardest workers our program has seen and is extremely dedicated to his craft. Kaman loves to share the ball and create looks for his teammate but can also score the ball at a high level."
Kaila also tallied a triple-double in the process, adding 11 assists and 10 rebounds. He went 73 per cent from field-goal range and 60 per cent from the three-point line.
He scored 34 points in the second half, including 20 in the final frame in easily outlasting Richmond. The win guaranteed New West a final seeding between ninth and 12th place.
Kaila was also named a second-team provincials all-star.
New West, ranked 23rd going into the 32-team event, finished 11th — the second largest jump in seeding behind Pacific Academy that went from 22nd to seventh.
The Hyacks' 2024 provincials record was 3-2 and its game-by-game results were as follows:
- 63-58 win over G.W. Graham (Chilliwack)
- 74-35 loss to Enver Creek (Surrey)
- 103-65 win over Richmond
- 82-50 loss to Abbotsford Christian
- 55-47 win over Fleetwood Park (Surrey)
