By Howard Tsumura, The Province -- Randy Storey remembers the day six years ago when he took a handful of his Handsworth Royals senior boys basketball players to nearby Highlands Elementary to promote a basketball camp that the North Vancouver secondary school was set to hold.

"After we spoke to them, we invited them to come on the floor and play against us," remembers Storey, the Royals head coach. "It was my four guys against about 60 kids. But this one guy steps up and hits this outside shot with perfect form. I knew who Andrew McGuinness was, but that was the first time I had seen him shoot. He was only in Grade Six."

Fast forward to the present and McGuinness has grown into one of the most dangerous scorers in the province, a 6-foot-3 Grade 12 shooting guard who leads his team into opening round play today (3:30 p.m. vs. Delta) at the St. Thomas More Chancellor Tournament in Burnaby.

Already committed to playing next season at the University of Calgary, McGuinness is picking up right where he left off last season when he led the entire field in scoring at the Telus B.C. Triple A championship tournament, averaging 26.8 points per game, which included 18-of-34 shooting from beyond the three-point arc.

This season, his third at the senior varsity level, McGuinness is averaging over 25 points per game for the unranked Royals, but has added a leadership component to the mix which he says he welcomes.

"We're complete underdogs right now," says McGuinness, who played for B.C.'s Under-17 provincial team over the summer. "We're right out of the blue. But I think we can shock some people. And when it comes to pushing my teammates to get better, I like having that responsibility on my hands."

The son of UBC women's assistant coach Shaun McGuinness and the brother of former T-Birds' women's star Erica McGuinness, Andrew is playing at a level that his coach would call a logical progression from that memorable day six years ago.

"Right now, he is just stepping into situations knowing that he can make something happen," says Storey. "He is just playing with a ton of confidence."

Ranked teams from The Province's Super 15 taking part at the Chancellor include Coquitlam's No. 8 Gleneagle, No. 9 Tamanawis of Surrey, and both Byrne Creek of Burnaby and Kwantlen Park of Surrey in a tie at No. 15. The championship final is slated for 7:15 p.m. Saturday.

View The Province article here.