Timberwolves bare teeth against Trojans in winning first CCAA hardcourt crown

Fear of failure? Well, that’s debatable. But one thing is certain . . . to start this 2010 Canadian Colleges Athletic Association men’s basketball national championship tournament, the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) Northern Timberwolves were scared straight.

Thursday afternoon, during their first test of the CCAA nationals at Calgary’s SAIT Polytechnic, the Prince George, B.C.-based Timberwolves fell behind by as much as 17 points, and barely managed to escape with a 76-71 victory over the No. 8-seeded Fanshawe College Falcons of London, Ont.

But from that moment on, the country’s No. 1-ranked T-Wolves never put themselves in danger again – winning their next two games by a whopping total of 55 points, including Saturday night’s 96-63 bombing of the host SAIT Trojans in the CCAA gold-medal final.

“Fanshawe had a great game plan. They took us right to the wire, and we were fortunate to get out of that one. We feel like we sort of escaped with that one,” said second-year UNBC head coach Mike Raimbault, the 2009-10 CCAA coach of the year. “So we sort of learned our lesson there.

“It was nice to see some growth and maturity in the group, in terms of saying: ‘Hey, we need to put things together for 40 minutes.’ We felt like we were able to do that the last two nights.”

UNBC’s Inderbir Gill (4th-year guard, Spokane, Wash.), who chalked up 32 points Saturday night, was named MVP of this CCAA national tournament. Teammates Jose Araujo (3rd-year guard, Toronto) and Francis Rowe (2nd-year guard, Victoria, B.C.) were picked for the tournament’s first and second all-star teams, respectively.

Saturday’s gold was the first CCAA medal of any colour for the Timberwolves, who only began play in the British Columbia Colleges Athletic Association during the 1999-2000 season. The Trojans, meanwhile, were making their third appearance in the CCAA final since their last national championship back in 1986.

And even though they were widely outplayed by UNBC, a silver medal – which goes with SAIT’s national runner-up finishes in 1990 and 1996 -- still looked pretty darn good to the tournament hosts, who entered the weekend with a No. 7 ranking.

“Everybody said that we were going to play one game and get outta here. We made it to the final instead,” said SAIT’s Stephen Olivier-Job (2nd-year guard, Winnipeg), who notched 12 points against the T-Wolves, two back of the team-high 14 posted by co-captain Keenan Milburn (3rd-year guard, Royston, B.C.).

“It’s a huge achievement. We put SAIT back on the map,” said Olivier-Job, noting that the Trojans had won just nine out of 40 games the past two seasons before going 16-4 this winter in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference and winning a provincial bronze medal. “Hopefully the next Trojans that come in here can take it further, and get that national championship.”

SAIT’s Emmanuel Chiek (5th-year post, Guelph, Ont.) wrapped up his post-secondary career with an 11-point performance, after knocking down 31 in a 75-68 first-round win over the Humber College Hawks of Etobicoke, Ont., and 21 more in a 69-67, national semifinal victory over the Champlain College Cavaliers of St-Lambert, Que., on Friday night.

Milburn and Chiek were both named to the tournament’s first all-star squad.

“Being on the losing end of this game is tough,” said third-year Trojans head coach Mike Stevens. “But like I said to the guys, they won the silver medal last night. Tonight was a chance to earn gold. It didn’t go our way, but we’ve still got to be proud of what we accomplished this year.

“I don’t think we came out with our best game, and (the T-Wolves) came out with a really good game, and that put us behind the eight-ball real quick,” added Stevens. “As this tournament proved, you can’t afford to get down and fight your way back.

“In the last couple of minutes, there, in our huddle, I told the guys: ‘You can’t hang your heads. We had a fantastic season.’ It just so happens that we finished as the second-best team in the country this year. That’s the way it goes sometimes.”

UNBC led early, 8-2, and the Trojans battled back to make it 10-7, and the first quarter ended with the T-Wolves up 21-11. But the second quarter was a backbreaker for the hosts, who were outscored 28-11 for a lopsided 49-22 total at the break. UNBC led 70-48 after 30 minutes.

Both teams featured SAIT men’s basketball alumni behind the bench. Stevens played for all three post-secondary Calgary teams – the Trojans, the University of Calgary Dinos, and the Mount Royal University Cougars – while Raimbault spent two years in Trojan colours during the 2001-02 and ’02-03 campaigns.

“There’s no better feeling than this,” said Gill, who like his teammates was mobbed by dozens of yellow-and-green-clad supporters who’d made the trek by bus from Prince George. “And to be able to do it here? Our coach, he was a player here, so there’s no better way.”