CIS men's basketball roundup: T-Birds take Canada West title on home court; Lakehead wins first OUA title

The win also clinched a berth in next weekend's CIS Final 8 hosted by the AUS at the Halifax Metro Centre.

After falling behind by as much as nine points, Acadia finished the first half strong to close the gap to 38-36 for Cape Breton.

A 12-3 run in the third quarter stretched Cape Bretons lead to 11 points, but the Axemen clawed back to send the game into overtime tied 70-70.

AUS all star Owen Klassen fouled out with 3:34 left in OT with Acadia trailing 72-20, but with three starters fouled out, Justin Boutilier stepped up with timely three pointers and free throws.

Laughlin Gale hit two free throws with 29 second left to put Acadia up 80-76. After a quick Cape Breton comeback, Anthony Sears hit two free throws with 4.2 seconds left to secure the win.

Player of the Game, Justin Boutilier, led the charge with 24 points and 8 rebounds with Klassen chipping in 17 and 5, and Sears adding 14 and 7.

Coach Steve Baur was happy about the result stating: "Justin made some big shots for us down the stretch and the guys continued to battle. We wouldn't go away and stuck in it until we made a few shots, it was a gutsy effort by our guys and we are excited to play for a title."

The Axemen will rest and recover for a 2 pm AUS men's basketball final at the Metro Center against the Dalhousie Tigers who eliminated the StFX X-Men in the second semi-final game.

Source: Acadia Sports Info

HAMILTON, Ont. (OUA) - The Lakehead Thunderwolves captured the first Wilson Cup title in club history and unseated the reigning three-time OUA-champion Carleton Ravens with a 77-62 victory in the 94th Wilson Cup, the climax of the OUA men's basketball Final Four, hosted by McMaster University.

Lakehead's Jamie Searle, a fifth-year guard from Belleville Ontario and OUA first-team all-star, was named the Porter Player of the Game and awarded the Keith Macpherson Trophy as the outstanding player in the Wilson Cup final.  Searle posted a team-leading 23 points, including 14 points in the fourth quarter.  He connected on eight of 15 field goal attempts, and was a perfect six-for-six on free throws.

"Carleton's an amazing team, but we knew this was our night," said a jubilant Searle. "We knew we were the only team to have a chance against them, and we worked for 40 minutes to get it done."

A 31-point fourth quarter lifted the Thunderwolves over a Raven team that had kept the score largely in check for the first 30 minutes of play.

"We got up by ten [in the fourth quarter], and we just kept hitting shots," said Lakehead head coach Scott Morrison, this season's OUA West Coach of the Year.  "I told the team that this was our time."

Third-year guard Joseph Jones amassed 15 points for Lakehead, connecting on four of five attempts from outside the arc.  Also in double-digit scoring for the victors were Ryan Thomson, with 12 points, and Yoosrie Salhia, with 10.  Salhia added a team-leading nine rebounds.

Carleton's offence was led by second-year forward and OUA East Player of the Year Tyson Hinz, who posted 19 points, eight of which were sunk in the final quarter.  Elliot Thompson grabbed 11 rebounds, all coming off the defensive glass.

Lakehead, which joined the OUA men's basketball circuit in 1988-89, had never previously appeared in a Wilson Cup championship game.  Carleton, which was appearing in its fifth consecutive conference final, now boasts a 6-4 all-time record in Wilson Cup games.

The Ravens, ranked first in the nation in the CIS Top Ten poll, had posted a previously unblemished record in 2010-11, including an undefeated 22-0 regular season to lead the OUA East division.  Lakehead, 17-5 in conference play, finished atop the OUA West and currently ranks sixth nationally.

The Wilson Cup, first presented in 1908-09, is emblematic of the Ontario university men's basketball championship, and is in its 94th season of competition.

Carleton's offence came out strong in the opening minutes, building up a 10-4 lead by the five minute mark of the first quarter.  Lakehead's offence soon found its rhythm, sinking a trio of three-pointers in the final 3.15 of the quarter.  The Thunderwolves took a narrow 15-14 into the first break after Jaime Searle sunk a three-pointer as the buzzer sounded.

Lakehead's momentum continued into the second frame, slowly but methodically pulling ahead of the Ravens to take a 32-26 advantage into halftime.

Lakehead's narrow edge on Carleton continued through the third quarter.  A three-point buzzer-beater by Jones was initially waved off by the officials as having been released after the buzzer sounded, but the ruling was reversed in Lakehead's favour after a conference of the officials.  The reversed call gave Lakehead a 46-39 advantage going into the final quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Searle's dominating performance was supplemented by nine points by Jones, including a pair of three-pointers.  The Thunderwolves outscored the Ravens 31-23 in the final frame, sealing the 77-62 victory.

Both Carleton and Lakehead advance to the CIS men's basketball Final 8, hosted at the Halifax Metro Centre on March 11-13.

A 12-point third quarter from Kyle Coston helped the Spartans erase an 11-point deficit and get back to even terms with Alberta heading into the fourth.

Jacob Doerksen was his usual double-double self, leading the Spartans with 21 points and 11 rebounds on the night. But it was secondary contributors like Coston and Daniel Horner who may have made the difference. Coston fouled out in the fourth after his big third quarter but still managed 14 points and nine rebounds. Horner netted 13 points on 4-for-5 shooting while adding seven assists.

Jordan Baker posted game-highs with 23 points and 12 rebounds for Alberta. Daniel Ferguson added 15 points for the Bears.

The Spartans will find out on Sunday if their season is over or not. Their loss to Saskatchewan in the semifinals saw them miss out on the two guaranteed CIS berths from Canada West, but as the fourth-ranked team in the country, they still have a legitimate shot at being awarded the wildcard berth.

Source: UBC Sports Info

A 9-2 UBC run put the 'Birds up 83-74 early in the fourth, and near-immaculate free throw shooting from Alex Murphy was the difference down the stretch. Every time the T-Birds appeared to be pulling away, Saskatchewan's dangerous guard duo of Rejean Chabot and Jamelle Barrett seemed to have an answer to keep the Huskies in the game, but they were unable to close the gap entirely thanks to Murphy's 22-for-23 effort from the charity stripe.

"What an unbelievable performance," UBC head coach Kevin Hanson said of Murphy's effort in his last home game as a T-Bird.

UBC hit 34 of 40 free throw attempts on the night to prevent the Huskies from gaining ground in their comeback effort. Murphy finished with 34 points, eight assists and four steals. Fellow fifth-years Josh Whyte and Brent Malish had 19 and 14 points respectively.

Barrett and Chabot certainly didn't make it easy on the 'Birds though. Chabot picked up 29 points and Barrett poured in a game-high 35 to go with seven assists.

"I was going to see if we could sub a sixth guy on to stop [Barrett's] penetration," Hanson joked. "He was single-handedly keeping them in the game. We tried to double team him but he got through double teams and he got through triple teams. I was running out of ideas as a coach for what to do with him."

Both sides ended up shorthanded due to foul trouble late in the game. Trevor Nerdahl and Nolan Brudehl both fouled out for the Huskies, while UBC was without big men Balraj Bains and Kamar Burke down the stretch, forcing them to go with an all-guard lineup.

"We ended up going small ball at the end with five guards playing out there. We adjusted quite well and I thought it was a sign of our depth that guys just adapted to their new roles," Hanson said.

The T-Birds outscored the Huskies 23-9 in the first quarter before the visitors shot their way back into contention in the middle quarters. They got to within a point of the 'Birds late in the third, and were as close as two points several times in the fourth, but never held a lead all night.

Both sides will make the trip to Halifax next weekend for the CIS tournament. The Huskies beat UBC in last year's Canada West Final Four before downing them in the national title game as well, but this time the 'Birds have the momentum heading into nationals.

Seeding for nationals will be announced on Sunday. The CIS tournament runs from March 11-13 in Halifax.

Source: UBC Sports Info