Courtesy of host organizing committee / Photo credit Valerie Wutti
OTTAWA (CIS) – The third-seeded University of Alberta Golden Bears are the CIS bronze medallists thanks to a 61-53 victory over the No. 4 Victoria Vikes in the third-place match of the ArcelorMittal Dofasco CIS men’s basketball championship at the Canadian Tire Centre, Sunday morning.
It was a quick turnaround for the Canada West rivals, who both lost in Saturday night’s semifinals and also lost an hour of sleep thanks to daylight savings time.
“I don’t think either team was excited about playing with the time change in the bronze medal game,” said Golden Bears head coach Barnaby Craddock, whose troops defeated Victoria 82-77 in the conference final last weekend.
The first quarter was completely dominated by the Bears.
The Vikes opened the game on a good note with Marcus Tibbs draining a three-pointer, but that was the only field goal they made in the opening frame.
The Golden Bears took over from there, going on a 23-1 run for the rest of the quarter led by Robert Dewar and Joel Friesen, who each had eight points in the first stanza.
Alberta had a commanding 25-4 lead against the top-rated defence in the country after 10 minutes of action.
Victoria’s offence came alive in the second quarter as they had a 17-15 edge.
“They needed to decide how they wanted to finish their year,” said Vikes head coach Craig Beaucamp. “They needed to decide as a group how they wanted to finish and have their legacy remembered as a group.”
Playing in his final university game, fifth-year guard Terrell Evans led the offensive charge with three straight baskets to swing the momentum in Victoria’s favour in the second quarter. The first-team all-Canadian had a double-double by halftime and finished with a game-high 16 rebounds and 18 points, earning game-MVP honours for his side.
Alberta did not allow the Vikes to mount a comeback however and, led by Jordan Baker’s seven points in the quarter, they had a 40-21 lead at halftime.
The Vikes outscored the Golden Bears for the entire second half, but were unable to erase the advantage Alberta built up in the early going. They kept chipping away at Alberta’s lead, bringing it within eight points by the end.
“We came out with a win,” said Friesen, who was named Alberta’s player of the game. “We did it for our fifth year guys and our guys played with a lot of heart even though we maybe didn’t perform our best this tournament.”
“It’s a ridiculously difficult game to play,” Beaucamp said. “I’m not giving our guys excuses, but with the time change and losing that game last night. It was going to be tough today.”
Golden Bears star graduating forward Jordan Baker led his team with 16 points and eight assists in his final CIS game.
“(I’m) just happy for the seniors to end with a medal, not the one we wanted but those guys that have played five years for this program deserve to have a little success here today,” Craddock said.
STAT LEADERS
VIC 4-17-14-18: 53
OTT 25-15-11-10: 61
Alberta
Points: Jordan Baker (16), Robert Dewar (8), Joel Friesen
(8)
Rebounds: Jordan Baker (8), Youssef Ouahrig (6)
Assists: Youssef Ouahrig (3)
Player of the game: Joel Friesen
Victoria
Points: Terrell Evans (18), Chris McLaughlin (13)
Rebounds: Terrell Evans (16), Chris McLaughlin (5)
Assists: Marcus Tibbs (4)
Player of the game: Terrell Evans
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE (all times EASTERN TIME)
Friday, March 7
12:30 Quarter-final 1: Alberta 72, Saint Mary’s
62
14:30 Quarter-final 2: Carleton 82, McMaster 64
17:30 Quarter-final 3: Victoria 63, McGill 54
20:00 Quarter-final 4: Ottawa 94, Saskatchewan 73
Saturday, March 8
12:30 Consolation 1: McMaster 98, Saint Mary’s
71
14:30 Consolation 2: Saskatchewan 75, McGill 59
18:00 Semifinal 1: Carleton 79, Alberta 55
20:00 Semifinal 2: Ottawa 78, Victoria 70
Sunday, March 9
10:30 Bronze: Alberta 61, Victoria 53
14:00 Final: No. 2 Carleton vs. No. 1 Ottawa (Sportsnet / www.CIS-SIC.tv *)
* The webcast of all 3 televised games (semifinals & final) will be on pay-per-view basis.
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, 11,000 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 55 universities and four regional associations vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca or follow us on:
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