Courtesy of host organizing committee / Photo credit Valerie Wutti
OTTAWA (CIS) – The third-seeded University of Alberta Golden Bears are one step closer to capturing their fourth national title following a 72-62 victory of the No. 6 Saint Mary’s University Huskies in the first quarter-final of the ArcelorMittal Dofasco CIS men’s basketball championship, at the Canadian Tire Centre on Friday afternoon.
The Canada West champion Golden Bears opened the game with seven straight points, making their first Final 8 appearance since losing the 2012 final.
Bears’ fifth-year forward Jordan Baker sank a pair of free throws at the end of the first to finish the quarter with a 16-13 lead.
The second quarter was a different story as the Atlantic University Sport champion Huskies opened with a 9-0 run and did not relinquish the lead to take a 37-33 lead into halftime.
“We just knew they played a better half than us and we needed to regroup and play our game,” said Golden Bears head coach Barnaby Craddock. “I think we started to play their game a little bit, a little too much one on one and we wanted to execute better as a group.”
The third quarter featured good, fast paced, back and forth action from both teams. The score was tied for the majority of the quarter, but Alberta was able to grab a lead thanks to a late three pointer from Youssef Ouahrig to head into the final frame with a 53-48 lead.
The Golden Bears never looked back and dominated the fourth. They opened with 10 straight points and never relinquished the lead they built up.
“They played good pressure defense on us and it took us a couple possessions to adjust on it, but it’s a forty minute game and luckily we came to life in the second half,” said Baker, who was named Alberta player of the game thanks to his match highs in points (17), rebounds (9) and assists (5).
Joel Friesen’s huge two-handed dunk with 38 seconds left capped a great fourth quarter for the Bears.
“I thought Saint Mary’s outplayed us for two and a half quarters to start the game and we finally got out mojo back a little bit,” Craddock said. “It was nice to grab control of the game there in the early fourth quarter.”
For Saint Mary’s the loss means they will not be able to capture their fifth W.P. McGee Trophy. Their four championships are the most from any AUS university, but they have not triumphed since 1999.
“I thought it was more so of what Alberta did than what we didn’t do, our guys played hard,” said Huskies head coach Johan Taussig, who was one of Saint Mary’s star player during their 1999 championship run. “I thought both teams played their hearts out. Alberta’s (record is) 31-3 for a reason, they’re a very good team.”
In Saturday’s first semifinal at 6 p.m. – live on Sportsnet 360 - the Golden Bears will face either the McMaster Marauders or the three-time reigning champ Carleton Ravens, the team they lost to in the 2012 final.
“Carleton’s set the bar high over the last 10 years in the CIS and like every team you want to challenge yourself against those guys,” Craddock said. “It’s a chance to test yourself against the best competition around and that’s what we want to do.”
Saint Mary’s moves to the consolation side of the draw and will battle the loser of the McMaster-Carleton contest Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
STAT LEADERS
SMU: 13-24-11-14: 62
ALB: 16-17-20-19: 72
Alberta
Points: Jordan Baker (17), Joel Friesen (11), Youssef
Ouahrig (10)
Rebounds: Jordan Baker (9), Todd Bergen-Henengouwen (8)
Assists: Jordan Baker (5)
Player of the game: Jordan Baker
Saint Mary’s
Points: Marquis Clayton (13), Boyd Vassell (13), Theon
Reefer (10)
Rebounds: Harry Ezenibe (5), Riley Halpin (5)
Assists: Marquis Clayton (5)
Player of the game: Marquis Clayton
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: No. 7 McMaster vs. No. 2 Carleton (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
17:30 Quarter-final 3: No. 5 McGill vs. No. 4 Victoria (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
20:00 Quarter-final 4: No. 8 Saskatchewan vs. No. 1 Ottawa (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
Saturday, March 8
12:30 Consolation 1: No. 6 Saint Mary’s vs. Loser QF
2 (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
14:30 Consolation 2: Loser QF 3 vs. Loser QF 4 (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
18:00 Semifinal 1: No. 3 Alberta vs. Winner QF 2 (Sportsnet 360 /
www.CIS-SIC.tv *)
20:00 Semifinal 2: Winner QF 3 vs. Winner QF 4 (Sportsnet 360 / www.CIS-SIC.tv *)
Sunday, March 9
10:30 Bronze (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
14:00 Final (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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