Gold Medal Match: SAIT Trojans 96, Dawson Blues 81For the second straight season, the CCAA Men's Basketball National Championship celebrations began on home court.
Riding the wave of the home crowd in Calgary, the SAIT Trojans, making their sixth consecutive appearance on the national stage, finally got the job done as they defeated the Dawson Blues 96-81 to claim the gold medal at the University of Calgary's Jack Simpson Gymnasium on Sunday.
Overall, it's the third championship in Men's Basketball for the Trojans and their first since 1986, which was the end of a run of five consecutive national medals that began with the 1982 title, where they also defeated Dawson College.
For the Blues, it was their second straight national medal after winning bronze one year ago.
CCAA All-Canadian and First All-Tournament Team honouree
Marcus Masters (178-PG) was SAIT's player of the game on the biggest stage with a game-high 28 points, three rebounds and three assists, while fellow First All-Tournament Team honouree
Marc-Denault Gabriel (193-PF) added 16 points and eight rebounds.
Meanwhile,
Charlie Conner (185-G), in his final post-secondary game for the Trojans, posted 23 points on 6-of-8 three-point shooting to go with five assists, three rebounds and three steals en route to being named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
For Dawson College, First All-Tournament Team member
Iman Kheirati (193-SG) led the way with 27 points, six rebounds and three assists, while
Christian Payawal (185-G) added 11 points, and player of the game
Schumel Shepherd (185-G) put up nine points off the bench.
After a relatively even start to the matchup, the Trojans fed off the home crowd, which featured members of the 1982 and 1986 championship teams, to seize momentum and build up a 19-8 lead in the opening six minutes, then continued riding the wave to a 31-17 lead to end the first quarter.
The second quarter saw the Blues getting more comfortable in their surroundings as they trimmed the Trojans lead to eight mid-way through the frame. However, Dawson would get no closer before halftime as the Trojans pushed back to stretch their lead as far as 15, though the Blues cut the gap to 50-40 heading to the locker room.
Dawson carried over the late second quarter momentum into the third, as they further cut the SAIT lead to four early in the frame. However, it wasn't long before the Trojans restored their double-digit lead, punctuated by a Conner pull-up three with six minutes to play. From there, SAIT continued to push the lead further on the strength of their three-point shooting, with Conner's fourth three of the quarter coming at the buzzer to put the Trojans up 73-54.
From there, the wave only continued to build, with the Trojans shooting 53.3 per cent from three-point range in the fourth to go up 25 with 3:11 to play, and the celebrations were on in full force.
Now, the nation's attention will turn to the east coast, as Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B. will host the 2024 CCAA Men's Basketball National Championship from March 13-16, 2024.
Courtesy of ccaa.ca
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Charlie Conner (6'1''-G) of SAIT
Tyrone Asenoguan (6'3''-G) of Capilano
Iman Kheirati (6'4''-SG) of Dawson
Kuol Kuol (6'4''-F) of SAIT
