Gold Medal Match: VIU Mariners 85, Sheridan Bruins 82

In their first two games at the CCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship at Langley Events Centre, the PACWEST champion Mariners needed to rally from double-digit deficits to secure victories in the quarter-finals and semifinals. When the team went up 15 points on the OCAA champion Sheridan Bruins (Oakville, ON), it was a different feeling for the Mariners, especially when their opponent was the one erasing the deficit.

With the score tied at 67 with 7:30 remaining in Saturday’s championship final, VIU had just enough down the stretch, prevailing 85-82 to claim their second CCAA National Championship.

The Bruins trailed for much of the game, scoring the first two points and then playing catch-up until the end of third quarter when they went up 63-57 with 10 minutes remaining. The Mariners then appeared more comfortable, as they outscored Sheridan 10-4 over the first 2:30 of the fourth quarter, taking control down the stretch.

Harry Fayle scored 12 of his team-high 25 points and Landon Radliff had 10 of his 17 in the fourth quarter alone and Cameron Gay added 15. Radliff also finished with six assists and four steals while Gay added five rebounds and five assists. The trio also combined to hit 11 three-pointers. Jerod Derby chipped in 11 points to go along with his nine rebounds and Brett Christensen came off the bench for six points and four assists.

Kahleek Bakari-Whyte led the Bruins with 26 points and Nick Campbell had 18. Jemol Edwards had 14 and AJ Thompson added 10.

For the Mariners, the win adds to their recent CCAA succes, including a National Championship in 2013and silver medals in 2015, all with Kuzminski at the helm.

For the Championship game, Fayle and Bakari-Whyte were their team’s respective winners of the 4 Imprint Player of the Game Awards.

VIU also won the Doug McCallum Exemplary Leadership Award and Landon Radliff picked up Most Valuable Player honours.

The First Team All-Stars were Blondeau Tchoukuiegno (Montmorency), Jaylan Morgan (Humber), Kahleek Bakari-Whyte (Sheridan), Cameron Gay (VIU) and Harry Fayle (VIU).

The Second Team All-Stars were Royce Sargeant (Langara), Charlie Conner (SAIT), Travis Adams (Holland), Abdou Karim Mane (Vanier) and Nick Campbell (Sheridan).

Bronze Medal Game: Humber Hawks 84, Nomades de Montmorency 76

A loss on day one dashed their championship dreams, but the Humber Hawks rattled off three straight victories and will take the bronze medals home with them to Ontario for their efforts.

The Hawks rallied from a dozen points down in the third quarter to defeat Laval’s Nomades de Montmorency 84-76 in the bronze medal game.

Both teams – who were the wild-card entries from the OCAA and RSEQ respectively – lost their quarter-final contests on day one but bounced back to win on Day 2 and then in the bronze medal semi-finals earlier in the day on Saturday before meeting in the tournament’s penultimate game.

The Nomades overcame a poor-shooting first quarter to lead 40-35 at the half and were up 56-44 in the third before the Hawks closed on a 13-2 run to make it a one-point game with 10 minutes to play. And from there, Humber wore them down, outscoring Montmorency 27-18.

The strong finish can also be used as a learning tool for next season as the Hawks – who graduate just two fifth-year players – are guaranteed a spot in the 2020 CCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship as the host squad.

Humber had four of their five starters reach double figures in scoring, led by 4 Imprint Player of the Game Jordon Francis (18 points, six rebounds, two assists) while Jaylan Morgan had 15 and Curwin Elvis had 14.

Montmorency’s Blondeau Tchoukuiegno was his team’s 4 Imprint Player of the Game after nearly registering a triple double, finishing with 26 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. He also had six steals and a blocked shot. The Nomades’ Charles Cousin added a dozen points.

Match 11: SAIT Trojans 114, Langara Falcons 99

Forty-three points from Ian Tevis helped Calgary’s SAIT Trojans defeat the Langara Falcons 114-99 in the seventh/eighth place game.

The Trojans, the ACAC champions, drilled 19 three-pointers in the victory (on 61 attempts) as the teams played at a breakneck speed with a combined 178 field goal attempts, with 80 going in.

The game was tied six times with 11 lead changes, the last of which came late in the second quarter. The Falcons went up 49-48 but the Trojans rattled off a 10-run to close the half and never looked back, opening the third quarter on a 12-2 spurt for their largest lead of the game at 19.

Langara would get the lead down to five but no closer.

Aside from Tevis – who was the Imprint Player of the Game for SAIT – John Smith had 27 points and Charlie Conner had 20. Both Connor and Tevis also grabbed 10 rebounds and Tevis finished with seven steals as well.

Langara’s Grant Galbraith was the Falcons 4 Imprint Player of the Game with 17 points (on 8-for-10 shooting) with nine rebounds, seven assists and a blocked shot. Royce Sargeant finished with 28 points and nine assists. Moeiz Athaya (20 points), Drake Downer (14 points) and Antonio Jhuty (12 points) also contributed to the attack as all five Falcons starters finished in double figures.

Match 10: Humber Hawks 106, Holland Hurricanes 97

The Humber Hawks were lights-out offensively, shooting 52 per cent both from the field and the three-point line as they won their bronze medal semi-final game 106-97.

The Hawks were facing the Holland Hurricanes to see which team would face the Nomads de Montmorency in the third-place game.

The Hurricanes, the ACAA champions who were coming off their first loss of the season the night before in the championship semi-finals, scored the game’s first five points for their largest lead before Humber, the OCAA wild-card team, took a 24-21 lead after one quarter and then led the rest of the way.

Holland, which trailed 48-41 at the half, did manage to cut the deficit to a single point, 82-81 in the fourth quarter, but the Hawks went on a 9-3 run to create some separation and never looked back.

For the game, Humber was 11-for-21 from beyond the arc compared to just 5-of-22 for the Hurricanes. And that edge in outside shooting helped the Hawks overcome Holland’s free-throw advantage. The Hurricanes made 34 of 47 foul shots compared to Humber’s 17-for-21.

Jaylan Morgan, the 4 Imprint Player of the Game for Humber, scored 24 points to go along with eight rebounds and five assists. Curwin Elvis (20 points), Fowzi Mohamoud (17 points) and Jordon Francis (12 points) also reached double figures.

The Hurricanes were led by Jordan Holness’ 27 points (17 of which came from the charity stripe), while Jace Colley and Travis Adams both scored 20. Holness was the Hurricanes’ 4 Imprint Player of the Game.

Match 9:Nomades de Montmorency 83, Vanier Cheetahs 75

In a rematch of RSEQ championship game, it was the Nomades de Montmorency exacting a measure of revenge, knocking off their conference rival the Vanier Cheetahs 83-75.

The teams were playing in the first of two bronze medal semi-final games.

The Cheetahs, who were coming off the first loss of the season the night before against the VIU Mariners in the championship semi-final, raced out to a 14-2 lead before the Nomades closed the quarter on a 9-0 run. Vanier was up three points at the half before Montmorency used a 13-0 run in the third quarter to take the lead for good.

Montmorency was led by 25 points and 17 rebounds from Elie Karojo, the 4 Imprint Player of the Game for his team. Blondeau Tchoukuiegno had 19 points and Mcfadden Jean came off the bench to score 20.

Vanier uncharacteristically had struggles from beyond the arc as they hit 16 three-pointers in their opening game and then another dozen in the second game. But on Saturday, they were only 8-for-28 (28.6 per cent) from beyond the arc.

Joshua Mein was the 4 Imprint Player of the Game for the Cheetahs and scored a team-high 25 points, Christopher Biekeu came off the bench to score 16.

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