Milburn carries triumphant Trojans past Cavaliers and into CCAA’s title game

For the first time in 14 years, the SAIT Trojans have advanced to the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association men’s basketball gold-medal final. Friday night, they were carried to the big game on the slender shoulders of an unassuming, five-foot-11 guard from Royston, B.C. by the name of Keenan Milburn.

Milburn, a third-year SAIT co-captain, sank nine of his 18 points in the fourth quarter as the host Trojans, ranked No. 7, rallied from a nine-point deficit to defeat the No. 6-seeded Champlain College Cavaliers of St-Lambert, Que., 69-67 in a national collegiate semifinal before an exultant full house at SAIT’s Campus Centre gym.

“Before this tournament, I told Keenan: ‘Your moment, it’s been two-and-a-half years in the making, and now we’re going to try to ride you all the way to the championship,’ ” said third-year SAIT head coach Mike Stevens.

The Trojans will meet the No. 1-ranked University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) Northern Timberwolves in the CCAA’s national final on Saturday, March 20 at 8 p.m. MT. The Timberwolves pounded the No. 5-ranked Mount Saint Vincent University Mystics of Halifax 80-58 in Friday’s other championship semifinal.

In 28 minutes of floor time Friday, Milburn went six-of-15 from the floor, including three-of-nine from beyond the arc, and three-of-six from the foul line. That rather unimpressive stats line, though, doesn’t capture Milburn’s relentlessness down the stretch, when he made one critical bucket after another to help SAIT build a six-point lead and hold on to victory.

“It’s been a three-year program for me here – working on my game, working on shooting. I’ve been in the gym every day, almost, getting bigger and stronger and faster, to complete my game basically for this tournament,” said Milburn.

“Mike was the only one who recruited me out of high school. He saw something in me, stuck with me, and . . . look at us now. We’re in the final of the CCAA national championship.”

The Trojans, who earned an Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference bronze medal earlier this month, trailed 51-48 after three quarters, but forged ahead early in the fourth, by a 56-55 count, on a rebound bucket by Emmanuel Chiek (5th-year post, Guelph, Ont.), who would tally 21 points on the night.

A few minutes later, SAIT went ahead 61-60 on a pair of free throws by Milburn, and from that point on it was edge-of-the-seat territory for the partisan packed house.

Cavaliers sophomore sensation Simon Bibeau (2nd-year guard, St-Bruno, Que.), who would finish with 29 points, made an unbelievable one-touch, three-point basket with just over four minutes left, cutting SAIT’s lead to 65-63. St-Lambert’s Bjorn Michaelsen (3rd-year forward, Otterburn Park, Que.) made a fabulous block on SAIT’s Jamil Pierre (2nd-year guard, Richmond, B.C.) on a sure bucket off an offensive rebound. Trojans co-captain Fabian Warner (4th-year forward, Calgary), playing with a broken finger on his right hand, jammed home a huge rebound of a Milburn shot with 2:18 left, making it 69-63.

Champlain’s Adam Chmielewski (3rd-year guard, Montreal) missed an inside shot with 17 seconds left and SAIT leading 69-67. Milburn and Warner missed two free throws apiece in the final 10 seconds. And with no time on the clock, Bibeau clanked a three-point attempt off the rim, sending the hosts to their third national final since SAIT last won a CCAA title back in 1986.

“It’s unbelievable, is what it is,” said Stevens. “The guys gutted it out. At halftime, when it was 33-33, we talked about how it was a zero-zero game, in a national semifinal in our gym, with 20 minutes left – and how we needed to go out and get it.

“Unbelievable plays both ways,” added Stevens. “Even that last shot by Bibeau, there, my heart was in my throat, because it looked good from where I was standing, and I was already trying to think of what I was going to tell the guys when that dropped.

“For this program, the last few years, we needed a break, and it looks like we finally got one.”

Friday’s loss by the Cavaliers, a wild-card at nationals and runners-up in the Federation Quebecoise du Sport Etudiant (FQSE), was a bitter pill to swallow for 13th-year head coach John Dangelis, whose squad was up 51-42 just before the third quarter ended.

“We had a nine-point lead, and we turned the ball over two times. We gave them a chance to get back in the game, and that’s it,” said Dangelis. “It’s one of those games I’ll replay in my head, I guess, a thousand times.

“When you play on the road in someone’s gym, (against a team) that’s this good, you can’t make mental mistakes like that,” added Dangelis. “You almost have to play the perfect game to win, and we didn’t play the perfect game. We fouled a three-point shooter (Milburn), and gave him three shots. Turned it over twice. And unless it was a dunk, we couldn’t finish underneath.

“(The Trojans) played good, too. No. 10 (Milburn) was outstanding. He made clutch shot after clutch shot. No. 14 (Pierre) came off the bench with big plays, kind of surprised us. They’re good; we’re good. Unfortunately someone has to lose, and it happens to be us.”

The Timberwolves, who’ve only been around since the 1999-2000 season, are in their first CCAA championship game. The Trojans won two national titles back in 1982 and ’86, and in more recent years lost the gold-medal game in 1990 to Sheridan and 1996 to Montmorency.

For live game webcasts, real-time stats, photo galleries, and recaps, visit the official CCAA national tournament website at http://www.sait2010.ca/