Saskatchewan and basketball don’t go together like salt and pepper, but the Saskatchewan Huskies made headlines March. 21 when they became this year’s Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) National basketball champions.

A team composed primarily of Saskatchewan natives allowed the Huskies to come away with a 91-81 win over the University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds.

Saskatchewan previously beat UBC in the Ontario University Athletics West semi-finals, and they did it again in a game that had even more at stake.

Both teams were defence-minded in the early going, aiming to stop the opposition from getting open shots.

UBC jumped to an early 12-4 lead thanks in large part to a balance of scoring, including Kamar Burke, who hit three field goals in the opening quarter.

Josh Whyte wasn’t able to hit his shots as easily for UBC and struggled a bit in the early going.

Saskatchewan was a one-man team at the point, with Showron Glover having all four of their points, two of which came on a field goal.

A key 11-0 run by the Huskies allowed he team to take the lead and finish the quarter ahead, 20-16.

In the second, the Huskies began to dominate, especially with Glover getting to the free-throw line. He finished the half with 15 points, six of which came from the charity stripe.

At halftime, the Huskies were 10 of 13, while UBC was 3 of 6 from the line.

However, UBC was able to out-rebound the Huskies in the first half. More surprisingly, they had more offensive rebounds with 11 at halftime, to the Huskies’ five.

Yet UBC wasn’t able to select their shots and many were forced. They were outscored 25-15 in the second quarter and entered the half with no momentum, down 45-31.

The second half continued the same way with the Huskies limiting turnovers, while using solid defence to force the UBC players out of rhythm.

Glover continued to dominate the stats, making frequent trips to the free-throw line.

However, the game was far from over as UBC’s Whyte, CIS player of the year, made a quick few baskets to keep the Thunderbirds within 10 at the end of the third.

The Thunderbirds continued to battle back in an attempt to cut the lead, and they had numerous chances to do it.

But turnovers piled up at pivotal times. At one point, UBC was down by six with a few minutes left in the game.

Yet as soon as they brought the ball up the floor, it was stripped by Glover, who went in for the easy deuce.

A few possessions later, Troy Gottselig made a similar steal and threw it down with authority. That extended the lead from six to eight and sealed the Huskies’ victory.

Both Whyte and Glover were 8-18 from the floor. But the difference was that Glover had 12 trips to the line, scoring 10, while Whyte never made an attempt.

Both teams had points from a variety of players, but the Huskies had three players with more than 20 points.

Despite letting the lead slip in each game, Husky head coach Greg Jockims said he believed it was the quality of the opposition that let the lead dwindle.

“When you’re playing good teams they’re really going to push hard at the late part of the games,” said the former Huskies player turned coach. “The other team is going to go on a bit of a run with reckless aggressiveness.”

Jockims said he thinks the win was huge for Saskatchewan, a province where hockey and football come first.

Glover, the Huskies’ MVP for the game, agreed.

“This is big. It means a lot. I’m coming from California, and I’m bringing this California game to Saskatchewan and it’s spreading. As a team we learn together, and that’s the way you have to learn, together.”

Some of the players on the team have personal challenges which factor into their basketball schedule. For example, Michael Linklater has four kids, which plays a major role in his playmaking dedication.

The team is also composed of a lot of locals, some of which come from a line of Huskies. The Unsworth brothers, or the twin towers as they are locally known, were raised by their father, a former Husky himself.

This year’s CIS championship is an amazing story that’ll affect the players, their families, the fans and the entire province. Basketball is alive and well in Saskatchewan.