Weary Hawks outlast Falcons in all-Ontario battle for CCAA bronze

The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak . . . and the Humber College Hawks held off the Fanshawe College Falcons on Saturday night in an all-Ontario, last-man-standing battle for a national bronze medal at the 2010 Canadian Colleges Athletic Association men’s basketball championship tournament at Calgary’s SAIT Polytechnic.

In a clash of two weary clubs, it was the Etobicoke, Ont.-based Hawks, seeded No. 2 at this tournament, who took away their first CCAA medal in men’s roundball since 2003 with a 72-66 victory over the London, Ont.-based Falcons, ranked eighth of eight clubs. Both squads were playing their fourth game in three days, and second in a matter of hours . . . and it was just a matter of who outlasted whom.

“We asked some guys to come off the bench who hadn’t really played very much all year long. They came in and gave us significant minutes, and I’m really proud of the effort that we got from everybody today,” said sixth-year Humber head coach Darrell Glenn. “I couldn’t ask for any more than what we got.

“It’s a real credit to the guys, and the work they’ve put in all season long, and the depth of our team,” added Glenn, whose club arrived at CCAA nationals without co-captains Jadwey Hemmings, Daviau Rodney and Jeremy Alleyne, who were left behind for violating team protocol. “We were able to still come here, compete and show very well.”

Saturday’s game was a rematch of the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association championship final, won earlier this month, 59-48, by Humber. The Falcons jumped out to an early 16-8 lead, and led 21-15 after the first quarter and 37-34 at the break. But the Hawks enjoyed a big third quarter, outscoring their opponents 20-9 in that frame, and pushed their advantage to as much as 12 points in the waning moments.

“What the hell. They won it, no issues, no excuses,” said 33rd-year Fanshawe head coach Glenn Johnston. “But a lot of my guys deserved the Iron Man award. They were playing hurt. And they sure as hell don’t owe me anything. They gave me everything they had.

“Our guys out at the end, four of the five out there were hurt,” added Johnston, “and they’re still playing hard.”

Offered Glenn: “I think it’s good for the province of Ontario that we were able to get two teams into third and fourth position. I think it shows just how tough our schedule was this year, and hopefully we represented our province well here.”

Quinlan Veira (1st-year guard, Toronto) led Humber with 15 points. Teammates Kern Lewis (4th-year guard, Toronto) and Jevon Francis (2nd-year forward, Innisfil, Ont.) added 12 apiece, while Milan Tosic (1st-year post, Kitchener, Ont.) chipped in 11.

“We left it all on the floor tonight,” said Veira. “We had good defence in the second half, and gave it our all. Some people couldn’t make it here with us, so we made them proud.”

Co-captain Bryan Kamerman (4th-year post, London, Ont.) led the Falcons, who’d arrived in Calgary clutching one of two national wild-card berths, with 13 points. Will Bradbury (1st-year guard, Kitchener, Ont.) and Alex Brkljac also drained 13 apiece; Andy Campbell (2nd-year forward, Waterloo, Ont.) chalked up 10 for Fanshawe.

The Falcons had stepped off the court less than four hours earlier, after outlasting the Champlain College Cavaliers of St-Lambert, Que., in a 91-88 double-overtime marathon of a bronze-medal semifinal.

“We missed a lot of shots. A lot of easy ones. Just a lot of defensive breakdowns, not keeping them out of the middle, not rebounding,” said Fanshawe’s Manny Campbell (3rd-year guard, Burlington, Ont.). “We should have beat UNBC (in their Thursday opener, which saw the Falcons nearly upset the No. 1-ranked Northern Timberwolves), but we couldn’t hold a lead. That crushed the dreams for first, and we wanted bronze, but (Humber) outplayed us again.”

Fanshawe’s last CCAA medal came back in 1981, when the Falcons won their second of two straight national championships.

“It’s my last (college) game, so I’m disappointed that we couldn’t go out with a win,” said Kamerman. “We had a good team. We stuck together, and we had a lot of guys step up.”

Saturday night’s CCAA national final, set to tip off at 8 p.m. MT, will see the No. 1-ranked University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) Northern Timberwolves take on the host SAIT Trojans, seeded No. 7.

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