The bronze medal game of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Final 8 looked more like the calm before the storm of the gold medal game, as only a few hundred fans showed up to watch the University of Alberta Golden Bears narrowly beat the University of Victoria Vikes 61-53 at the Canadian Tire Centre March 9.
It was a very short period of rest for the Vikes, who lost to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees in the semifinal just 12 hours before they had to play in their next game.
The Golden Bears on the other hand were better-rested after they lost to the Carleton Ravens 79-55 in their semifinal game. They took control early, going up 25-4 at the end of the first quarter.
Golden Bears head coach Barnaby Craddock said while neither team was playing their best due to the daylight savings time change, it was good to see his graduating players close out their careers in winning fashion.
“I don’t think either team was excited about playing with the time change for the bronze medal game,” he said. “Nice result for the graduating fifth-year guys to end on a win. We didn’t want to be defined by our performance in the semifinal game.”
Vikes head coach Craig Beauchamp agreed, and said the short rest was very difficult for his team to handle.
“[It was an] extremely difficult game,” he said. “With getting back to the hotel at midnight, getting up with the time change and being on the court at 10:30, [it was] extremely difficult.”
The Vikes made an effort to come back in the second quarter, but the Golden Bears’ offence held strong.
Terrell Evans scored on a fast break with two minutes to go, followed by a three-pointer to keep the Vikes in the game. The Golden Bears were able to rebound quickly, and led 40-21 at halftime.
Golden Bears fourth-year guard Joel Friesen said they still needed to try to play their best to beat the Vikes.
“They kind of woke up in the second half,” he said. “They’re a good defensive team, so we needed to hit them when we had the opportunity, which was right out of the gate.”
It was the same pace in the third quarter, with the Golden Bears scoring steadily to keep the gap between the teams wide, but the Vikes were quietly coming back.
While the Golden Bears did a good job distributing the scoring, the Vikes had to rely heavily on fifth-year forward Terrell Evans to make plays for them. He led the team in scoring with 18 points and 16 rebounds.
Beauchamp said Evans knew he was playing his last game for the team and it showed on the scoreboard.
“I think [Evans] really brought a lot of energy,” he said.
The fourth quarter was a different story as the Vikes drew within eight points, but in the end the lead for the Golden Bears was too large to overcome.
Friesen said it was difficult getting his team to play on tempo after rebounding from their game against the Ravens.
“We got a win, we still probably didn’t play our best basketball as we could’ve all season,” he said. “We did it for our fifth-year guys, and our guys played it with a lot of heart even though we didn’t play our best this tournament.”
Though the season is over for the Golden Bears and Vikes, the gold medal game between the Ravens and Gee-Gees is still to be played at 2 p.m.
The Ravens will be going for their 10th CIS championship as a team, including their fourth in a row. The Gee-Gees will be looking to repeat their performance March 1, when they defeated the Ravens 78-77 in the Ontario University Sport (OUA) championship game.
