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CCAA Men's Basketball Gold and Bronze Game Recaps
Friday, 18 March 2011 00:49
The CCAA Men's Basketball Championships took place at Durham College
GOLD MEDAL GAME
Game 13: Vanier vs Lethbridge
Gold Medal Game - Vanier - 102 vs. Lethbridge - 85
Vanier wins the CCAA men’s basketball national championship
Nothing runs like a Cheetah in Canadian college hoops.
The seventh-seeded Vanier Cheetahs beat the Lethbridge Kodiaks 102-85 in a hard-fought Canadian Colleges Athletic Association Men’s Basketball Championship final on Saturday night.
The young Cheetahs’ four-guard formation outgunned the Kodiaks’ combination of quickness, inside power and tenacious defence in the battle for gold and national basketball supremacy. No Cheetah was bigger than championship MVP Jerome Blake, who was deadly all night, scorching Lethbridge for 32 points.
This is Vanier’s second ever men’s basketball national title, as they last won the title in 1987.
The fifth-seeded Lethbridge Kodiaks were undone by a splendid Cinderella Vanier squad which entered each game as major underdogs, yet each time overachieved big time in their three tournament games.
Vanier coach Andrew Hertzog said he felt confident they would win if they could stay close until crunch time, and they actually led 74-70 after three quarters.
“The fourth quarter is our time. If we are anywhere close going into the fourth quarter, we win the game,” he said.
Big comebacks have been commonplace for the Quebec college champs this season.
“We have been behind by 10 and 15 points more times in the second half than I can think of this season,” said Hertzog.
When they trailed early in the second half, Hertzog encouraged them to crank up the aggressiveness.
“I told them, ‘if we are going to make mistakes, let’s make sure they are aggressive mistakes.’”
Seth Amoah put the French accent on the Vanier victory with a dunk as just a minute remained. The game was actually a lot closer than the score indicated and, in fact, Lethbridge looked to be well in command of the game and tempo in the third quarter.
The Kodiaks led throughout the first half by scores of 8-3, 15-7 and 27-25 after one quarter. They lengthened the lead 44-37 with two minutes to go in the half. Guards Lenny Austin Antwi and Blake scored 11 and 13 respectively in the first half to keep Vanier in the game.
Lethbridge led 48-41 at halftime. But Vanier continued their tournament trend of big comebacks and started the second half with seven straight – three from Blake’s long ranger to tie the contest at 48-48.
The Kodiaks’ twin towers inside of 6-9 Spencer Wenzel and 6-6 Dominyck Coward appeared to give them a slight edge inside in the first part of the contest, but almost every time Lethbridge threatened to pull away, Blake seemed to come up with a big hoop.
His pass to Greishe Clerjuste gave them a 68-66 lead with 1:20 left in the third. Coward hit two free throws near the end of the third quarter to get his team within four – 74-70.
At 3:39 of the fourth quarter, Blake hit two free throws to make it 80-74 Vanier. Coward responded inside to keep it close.
At 5:19, Blake drew a foul driving to the hoop. He hit one of two to leave it 82-76 Vanier. He added two more with just under four minutes left.
It was 86-76 on a fast break by Ben Millaud-Meunier with three minutes left in the game, and that’s about all she wrote.
The four-guard offence that worked so well in the final was actually a strategic “response to what Lethbridge was doing,” said Hertzog. “When they went to four guards, we didn’t have much of a choice; they were too quick for us.”
The Vanier script was written amid three solid tournament games featuring a flurry of crisp passes, tenacious drives to the basket and sharpshooting from the outside.
Logan Reiter scored 18 points in earning player of the game honours for his team in a losing cause. Coward was solid with a 22-point effort. Wenzel scored 16 and Jordan Reiter 12 points.
Antwi netted a total of 24 points in the win, Amoah 16 and Millaud-Meunier 11. Michael Fosu led Vanier on the boards with eight rebounds.
Vanier hit 18 of 21 free throws, while Lethbridge was 25-of-35 from the line.
BRONZE MEDAL GAME
Game 12: MSVU vs TBA
Bronze Medal - VIU - 73 vs. MSVU - 71
VIU captures bronze in a thriller against MSVU
The Vancouver Island University Mariners won the bronze medal game at the CCAA men’s basketball national championship as they defeated the Mount Saint Vincent Mystics 73-71.
In what has been the most exciting game of the championship so far, MSVU had a long three point attempt to win the game, but the Todd Williams shot just rimmed out to give the No. 1 seed Mariners the win.
“We worked hard all year long and even though we didn’t get to play for gold, winning the bronze at nationals is great and I’m very proud of the tournament our team had.” said Head Coach Tony Bryce.
The bronze medal at the championship is VIU’s third men’s basketball national championship medal in school history, as they won bronze in 2005 and gold in 1994.
The Mystics made a late 8-0 charge to get within a single point of the Mariners (71-70), capped off by a Justin Hill three pointer which sent the crowd into a frenzy.
Down 73-71 with seconds left on the clock, MSVU’s Williams threw up a long range three point attempt for the win, but the ball just rimmed out giving VIU the win.
Andrew Kaban finished the night with a game high 20 points for the Mariners, while Jacob Thom added 17 in the bronze medal victory.
Sean Boulay led the Mystics with 19 points in the losing effort.
GAME RECAP – Tyler Weston
The show began with a slow start, and either team not wanting to make mistakes early.
Missed shots by both teams caused by tight zone defenses, made it hard for the offense to establish a post game inside.
The VIU Mariners jumped out to a 13-5 lead half way through the 1st quarter by getting to the free throw line and making simple lay ups out of the half court offense.
But the MSVU Mystics fought back with nothing but net shooting from forward Anthony Zinn helping his team to a 13-12 score in favour of the Mariners. The 1st quarter ended all tied up at 13.
An early put back and a slam-dunk quickly helped the Mariners regain the lead 17-13.
But a couple offensive rebounds and a 3-pointer from Zinn gave the advantage back to the Mystics by a score of 20-17. Another 3-pointer from the Mystics helped them pad the lead to 23-17 half way through the 2nd quarter.
The Mariners tightened up the defense and made their possessions count on offensive the next couple minutes of the quarter and battled out to a 25-23 lead.
Two 3-pointers near the end of the half by guard Mike Wohlers increased to advantage to 33-28.
The 3rd quarter started with the Mariners trying to push the tempo and by doing so, helped them to score on fast breaks to extend lead to 40-32.
Post play from forward Andrew Kaban padded the advantage to 11 and the biggest lead of the game so far for the Mariners, 47-36.
The Mystics attempted to run a smooth offense with excessive ball movement but the Mariners stayed hot from the field and took a lead of 51-39 with three minutes left in the 3rd quarter.
Both teams looked to shoot the 3-ball during the last minute of the quarter and the Mystics closed the gap with this strategy. End of the 3rd quarter the lead was now 58-49 for the Mariners.
The Mystics looked to drive to the basket at the beginning of the 4th quarter and it helped cut the lead down to 62-55.
Consistent pressure by both defenses forced tough possessions by each team and half way through the 4th quarter the Mariners were up eight, by a score of 65-57.
A clutch 3-pointer near the end of the shot clock by Mystics forward Sean Boulay helped chop the lead to 65-62 with less than three minutes to play in the game.
The Mariners were able to put together a few successful possessions in a row to widen the lead, while holding off the Mystic’s offense
The Mystics then applied the half court press with a minute remaining on the clock, and unintentionally drew fouls but the Mariners were able to hit a couple free throws to take their advantage to 71-62.
The defensive pressure of the Mystics helped them to catch up in score that was capped off with a 3-ball by Justin Hill.
In the last three seconds of the game, with the Mariners winning 73-71, the Mystics took a last shot at a 3-pointer to win the game but it barely missed and the Mariners scrapped by with the bronze medal.
Player of the game for the Mariners was forward Patrick McCarthy, who was a big part of the victory.
Player of the game for the Mystics was forward Anthony Zinn who almost led his team to the bronze.
Game Recaps: http://www.ccaamensbasketball2011.ca/
Photos: Flickr
