The Dalhousie Tigers and University of Victoria Vikes will face each other in the consolation final of the U Sports men’s basketball national championship on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET after they won their consolation semifinals on Saturday.
Here’s how they got to this point.
Alex Carson gets Dalhousie past Brock
After suffering an unexpected loss in the quarterfinals on Friday, the Tigers bounced back with a 90-77 win over the Brock Badgers on Saturday.
The Tigers relied on a dominant performance from senior Alex Carson, who scored 29 points—including a team-high six three-pointers.
“The kid’s one of the best three-point shooters in the country,” Dalhousie head coach Rick Plato said. “When he gets rolling and [guard Keevan Veinot] as well, we’re very difficult to beat.”
Dalhousie lost 90-80 to the Queen’s Gaels, relegating the Tigers to the consolation bracket for the first time in their three-year streak at nationals. The win over Brock sends them to the consolation final, which will take place at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday.
“[If] we would’ve played that way yesterday, I think it would’ve been a little different story,” Plato said.
For the Badgers, the loss is a stunning fall from grace. As Ontario University Athletics (OUA) champions with a 14-1 regular season record, Brock entered the tournament as the first seed before being upset by the Saskatchewan Huskies in the quarterfinals.
After that game, Brock head coach Willy Manigat said the consolation semifinal would be “a real test of character.” Despite the loss, Manigat said Saturday the team succeeded.
“I saw guys that continued to fight,” Manigat said. “They didn’t pass the test with flying colours, but they were there for the test … That’s a huge step for us and we’re super happy to have the experience and now it’s about building off of it.”
The game was the last of Brock forward and former Carleton Raven Tajinder Lall’s university career. Manigat said Lall meant “everything” to the program.
“TJ’s come and helped me set a culture of accountability, of expectations, of toughness, of resilience,” Manigat said. “It’s been amazing to watch his growth and watch him become the person he is today.”
UVic narrowly edges out McGill
The Vikes and McGill Redbirds moved in lockstep for most of the game, but the Vikes held on to a narrow lead and won 77-68.
Victoria, which lost to the Carleton Ravens in the quarterfinals on Friday, started the game with a 10-2 run and held on to the lead for the entire game. But McGill, champions of the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ), hung with the Vikes until the final minutes.
With just over three minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Redbirds trailed by only three points. Back-to-back three-pointers from Victoria guard Diego Maffia sealed the deal for the Vikes.
“I was proud of the guys. I think we worked,” McGill head coach Ryan Thorne said.
The Vikes’ 42 rebounds dramatically outpaced McGill’s 27, thanks in large part to forward Dominick Oliveri, who posted 13 in 26 minutes.
The loss for McGill signals the end of their tournament run. The Redbirds outscored the University of Alberta Golden Bears in three quarters of their quarterfinal game, but McGill ultimately couldn’t overcome 22 consecutive Alberta points in the second quarter.
McGill guard Jamal Mayali finished Saturday’s game—the last of his university career—with 31 points, his second consecutive matchup with 30 or more.
“Jamal’s just been amazing,” Thorne said. “It’s tough because we’ve put him in situations where he’s gotta bail us out, and he’s done a great job of that.”
Thorne said he told the team to be proud of their effort at nationals. Despite being underestimated by their conference counterparts—McGill wore “RSEQ vs. The Rest” shirts during warm-up—the Redbirds made history this season.
“I’m pretty sure this is not what [the players] came here for and it’s easy right now to hang your heads and think of what could’ve been,” Thorne said, mentioning McGill’s perfect 14-0 record, a first in program history. “Those are accomplishments that no one could ever take from them. No one can take the perfect season.”
Featured image by Spencer Colby.
