Canada West Semi Final: Huskies upset T-Birds in OT, earn spot at CIS championship

by Lee Dorner, UBC Sports Info Assistant

Archive photo courtesy Ivan Tam / USask Athletics

VANCOUVER - Missed free-throws gave the top-ranked UBC Thunderbirds a second chance on Friday, but the No. 10 Saskatchewan Huskies bounced back from a tough end to the fourth quarter with a dominating overtime effort to punch their ticket to the CIS tournament with a 104-87 upset.

After pacing the Huskies offence with 13 fourth quarter points, Troy Gottselig fouled out less than a minute into overtime. But in his place, Duncan Jones stepped up with 11 points in the extra frame, and his teammates held the T-Birds to just two points.

"Jones shot the ball very well," said Saskatchewan head coach Greg Jockims. "When Showron Glover and Michael Linklater attack, UBC tends to flood the paint to keep them from getting to the basket so other guys have to be ready to make shots and Jones made a couple of really big ones."

The Huskies had a chance to end the game in regulation, as Nolan Brudehl found himself on the free-throw line in an 85-85 game with six tenths of a second remaining, but he missed both shots, sending the UBC crowd into a frenzy as the game went to overtime.

"Resiliency was the key tonight," said Jockims. "We had to keep coming back and we responded from those missed free-throws."

The T-Birds were 1-for-10 from the field in overtime after shooting over 41 per cent during regulation.

The Huskies came into the contest ranked ninth in Canada West in three-point percentage, while the T-Birds boasted the conference's best three-point defence, holding teams to about 29 per cent from beyond the arc this season, but Saskatchewan hit 12 threes on 41.4 per cent shooting on Friday. Jones led the long-range assault with a 4-8 mark.

Canada West scoring champion Showron Glover was held to 16 points, but he had 11 assists on the night, helping four other Huskies reach double-digits in scoring. Gottselig led the Huskies with 25 points while chipping in seven boards in 27 minutes of action. Michael Lieffers had 19 rebounds and 11 points.

Josh Whyte was tied with Melvyn Mayott for the team scoring lead with 15 points, despite battling through a leg injury. Graham Bath led the 'Birds with nine rebounds.

In addition to earning themselves a CIS tournament berth, the win puts the Huskies through to the Canada West final, where they will square off against the Calgary Dinos for the conference championship.

The T-Birds will play Simon Fraser for third place in the conference. It will be a massive game between the lower mainland rivals as both of those teams will be considered for the "wild card" berth at the CIS championship.

The T-Birds play the Clan at 5:00 p.m. PST on Saturday, while the Dinos and Huskies play for gold at 7:00 p.m. Both games are at UBC's War Memorial Gym.