By Howard Tsumura, The Province
SURREY — The honours continue to follow Miguel Tomley.
A few weeks after being named a B.C. first team all-star at the provincial senior quad-A championships, the talented Grade 10 guard with Surrey’s Tamanawis Wildcats will suit up Sunday in Toronto with the best Grade 9-10 talent in Canada as part of the BioSteel Futures showcase game.
“You’ve always got to play as part of a team, but (in an all-star game) you also get to showcase what you can do,” said Tomley. “You get to play your own game. I am a lucky guy to get to play in this game.”
With two more seasons of high school basketball remaining, Tomley is positioned to enter the college basketball world in 2018-19 as one of the B.C.’s best-ever talents.
Besides his innate ability to score from all parts of the court, including a dead-eye shot from three-point range, Tomley’s drive-and-dish game so often leaves defenders flat footed. At the provincials, where Tamanawis lost to Kelowna in the quad-A final, he also showed a new level of toughness as a defender.
“Most of the guys are from Ontario, so Miguel can really compare himself to those guys and get a chance to see where he is at athletically, skill wise and physically,” said Tamananwis head coach Mike McKay who in January watched Tomley score 51 points in a 101-94 win over Walnut Grove. “It’s exciting for him because his level of offensive skill will really let him compete in an all-star game.”
Added UBC assistant coach Pasha Bains, who has coached Tomley for years on the Drive AAU touring team: “He is fearless and he is going to shoot, shoot, shoot. He was disappointed he wasn’t playing in the senior game but that’s how confident he is. He is one of the best prospects, but he still has a chip on his shoulder and still plays like an underdog.”
Tomley will also be a part of the event’s three-point shooting contest.