CALGARY, ALTA., (March 4, 2023) - The SAIT Trojans men's basketball team have, once again, captured the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) championship.
The 84-74 victory over the St. Mary's University Lightning in the gold medal game at Ambrose University on Saturday afternoon extended their streak as league's best to six consecutive seasons. Not many gave them a shot at another title after a disappointing 1-4 start to the 2022-23 campaign.
Outgoing head coach
Marty Birky , hair wet after being doused by his team, talked about how his team remained patient until they were finally able to come together as a unit after Christmas and get things going in the right direction.
"You don't want to go out any other way," said Birky while holding his young son. "Every time you compete, you want to win and we've been fortunate to win this thing six times. I'm proud of these guys."
Birky will finish his ACAC career with a perfect 17-0 record in post-season action. Undefeated regular seasons come and go, but to stay perfect in the playoffs for your entire career is special.
"We say there are three seasons - first semester, second semester and playoffs. The first two seasons get you to the third and that's all that really matter," Birky explained. "I can't tell you what the recipe is, to be honest. It's preparation and recruiting good individuals who want to put in the work, and having the ball bounce your way at the right times."
Fifth-year guard
Charlie Conner (185-G) has been with Birky for the last five titles - earning his fifth gold medal drape around the neck moment on Saturday. He said getting Marty one last one was important.
"You talk about cooking it up, Marty can do it with the best of them," said the guard from Lacey, Wash. "Me and him haven't always seen eye to eye, and there have been times where we're heated at each other, but if there's somebody who will figure it out it's him. I have so much love for Marty and I'm glad we can get this Conference title for him once again."
In the game itself, SAIT got out to an early lead thanks to the play of Tournament MVP,
Marcus Masters (178-PG), who scored 6 points in the opening quarter to put his team up 23-19 after 10 minutes of play. By half, SAIT's lead had been extended to 9.
In the third, however, the Lightning made an early run and cut the lead to 4 on a Angelo Santiago three-pointer. That's as close as they would get, as SAIT went on a run of their own and extended their lead to as much as 17 points early in the fourth.
With Conner struggling and Masters in foul trouble, rookie forward
Kuol Kuol (193-F) took over the game for SAIT with his offensive rebounds and easy put backs to keep the Lightning at bay. Kuol was named his team's Player of the Game after recording 19 points and 13 rebounds. Teammate Marc-Denault Gabriel added 23 points and 13 rebounds of his own.
"All the guys on the team, starting from Kuol, James (Owolabi), Mayen (Maen), Amon (Walker) - everybody on the bench when they come into the game they have an impact," said Masters, who scored 16 in the contest before fouling out. "When they have a big game, it helps me and Charlie because we know defences are focusing on us so when we have a third, fourth, fifth guy come in and score we become unstoppable."
Averie Armbrister led the Lightning with 28 points - 12 of which came in the fourth as he tried to get his team back into the game.
SAIT will now turn their attention to Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) National Championship that they will host March 16-19 at the University of Calgary's Jack Simpson Gymnasium. At last year's tournament, SAIT was edged in a semfinal overtime thriller by the eventual champs from Humber College. Masters and Conner played in that game and say they still think about it to this day.
"That's in the past," Masters laughed. "We're looking forward and think we have a real shot with the guys we have. If everyone comes along and we play defence like we know how, our offence will take care of itself and we should be in good shape."
"I have nightmares about it," Conner added. "You get to Nationals, and you can be the best team and execute for 38 minutes but lose it in the last two. It comes down to playing the hardest you can play and then find another gear. There's been some great teams there who haven't won and then there have been some teams that shocked people by winning. You have to play well and have a bit of luck on your side too. Hopefully we get that this time around."
Courtesy of acac.ab.ca
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Marcus Masters (5'10''-PG) of SAIT
Omeechi Williams (6'6''-F) of Keyano
Cooper Ward (6'6''-F) of Medicine Hat
Eduardo Crespo (6'2''-F-1998) of Red Deer
Filip Karanovic (6'3''-G-1999) of Lethbridge
Johnpaul Okodua (6'9''-C) of STMU
