It had been less than 24 hours since the University of Alberta Golden Bears lost by one point to the Carleton Ravens in the national championship semifinal, but the memories of one final shot missing were already flooding back.
The Golden Bears were locked in another close battle—this time, a three-point game with one quarter left against the Queen’s Gaels. The bronze medal game of the U Sports men’s basketball national championship was nearing its conclusion with no clear favourite and looked as if it would end the same way the semifinal did.
Then forward Adam Paige sunk a three. He raised his right arm in the air, three fingers held out for the crowd to enjoy. He sank another, then another.
By the end of a runaway fourth quarter, the Golden Bears had won 95-84. They were going home with a bronze medal—the first medal for the program since 2014.
The Gaels were crushed in their semifinal game against the Saskatchewan Huskies and through the first quarter of Sunday’s game, it looked like they were going to suffer a similar fate. By the five-minute mark of the second quarter, Queen’s trailed by 14 points.
But the Gaels clawed their way back. When guard Luka Syllas sunk both his free throws with just over a minute left in the quarter, Queen’s trailed only 40-39.
The teams remained in lockstep until the fourth quarter, when Paige sunk his threes. The Gaels couldn’t rebound from the momentum shift and trailed for the rest of the game.
In the semifinal matchup, Alberta star guard Tyus Jefferson missed two free throws with 13 seconds left on the clock—if he had sunk them, the Golden Bears would have taken the lead. Jefferson said winning the bronze medal was bittersweet because of the pain of the previous day.
“I played [this] game with no sleep. I haven’t slept since two days ago,” Jefferson said. “I have to live with [missing those shots] the rest of my life. I didn’t pull through for my team and that’s that.”
The bronze marks the end of Jefferson’s university career. He won Canada West Player of the Year this season and was named U Sports Defensive Player of the Year on Thursday.
He left the court to chants of “MVP.”
“I would give all that stuff to just get a team award. My team deserves everything,” Jefferson said. “This is the greatest team I’ve ever been a part of and I just wish I could have pulled through for them at the end.”
For Queen’s, the loss is a disappointment but symbolic of something bigger. Since the Gaels defeated the Ravens in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) semifinals last week, they’ve made history. They beat the favoured Dalhousie Tigers in the national quarterfinals before ultimately falling to Saskatchewan.
Queen’s had never been to nationals before this season. Now, they’re leaving as the number four team in the nation.
“How do you not feel great? We’re at a point where we’ve never been,” said guard Quinton Gray, who scored a game-high 38 points Sunday in the last game of his university career. “I have all the confidence in the world that our younger guys and the leaders that are still in the locker room are going to take this thing to the top.”
Gray remained on the court after the game, cleaning up empty Gatorade bottles from the Queen’s bench and signing a basketball for a fan.
“[I’m] trying to stay on the court for as long as I can, cause it’s not over past here,” Gray said. “Just trying to soak it all in right now.”
Featured image by Spencer Colby.
