And then there were three.
The University of B.C. Thunderbirds basketball team has landed a third member of the 2016 provincial high school-champion Kelowna Owls.
Mason Bourcier of the Kelowna Secondary School team that captured the B.C. School Sports AAAA boys basketball championship two seasons ago, was in Vancouver today to sign a letter of intent to play for the U Sports (formerly CIS) T-Birds beginning this fall.
Bourcier, who led the Owls to a BCSS silver medal in 2017 and was named the the most valuable player in the provincial championship game against the Walnut Grove Gators, will join former KSS teammates Parker Simson and Grant Shephard at UBC.
Simson, selected recently as the Sport B.C. high school athlete of the year (2016), signed on with UBC in 2016, but due to a severe ankle injury, was red-shirted for both the U Sports football and basketball season. Shephard, who spent last season with Montverde Academy in Florida after leading the Owls to a provincial pennant, was thought to be headed for a NCAA Division 1 school, but signed with the Thunderbirds last month.
Bourcier, a 6-foot-4, 190-pound point guard, made his final decision on Sunday after auditioning for NCAA Div. 1 programs in the United States.
“He (Bourcier) was sitting all by himself in the airport in Seattle, thinking about all of his options,” UBC head coach, Kevin Hanson told Howard Tsumura of Varsity Letters. “When he texted me he said ‘Coach, I want to win and I think it’s time.”
Bourcier said he's "excited, happy and relieved that the long process of selecting a post-secondary school is completed. I’m looking forward to trying to win a championship with UBC. That’s what I came here to do.
“I’m also excited to attend such a prestigious academic school as UBC. If UBC were in the United States it would be an Ivy League school. I’m excited to pursue a degree in Business and work towards an exciting future for myself.”
Bourcier conceded that his dream has been to play in the NCAA tournament and then the NBA, but he believes even with the signing with the T-Birds, parts of his dream are still alive.
“Honestly, my goal is still to play in the NBA and I am still going to work like I want to be the best player in the world,” he said to Tsumura.
That Shephard and Simson have already committed to the UBC program influenced Bourcier’s decision to play with the T-Birds.
“We’ve been like brothers since Grade 7, we’re close,” said Bourcier. “Grant signing was a big factor. But the coaches, from Kevin to (assistants) Vern (Knopp) and Spencer (McKay) were also big. They have always been in communication and they have been good to me.”
Meanwhile, coach Hanson said it was a huge day for the T-Birds' basketball program to have Bourcier sign on.
“Anytime you can attract a person the calibre of Mason is an exciting thing," noted Hanson. “He told me he wants to win championships and that’s what a coach wants to hear from a recruit. We are getting a great person and a great basketball player.”
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