After 38 years, UBC is just one win away from glory.

The no. 3 seeded Thunderbirds men’s basketball team defeated the no. 7 Calgary Dinos 77–63 in the semifinals of the CIS championships at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa.

UBC now faces the no. 5 Saskatchewan Huskies in the gold medal match tomorrow at 3:30 PST, available on TSN2.

“I thought our defence was solid and we got some offensive rebounds in a timely fashion tonight,” said UBC head coach Kevin Hanson after his team’s victory, which preceded Saskatchewan’s. “After the game last year against Carleton we set some goals, and we’re going to use those tomorrow. But it doesn’t matter who we end up playing tomorrow. It will be a tough battle either way.”

In a rematch from last year’s semifinal game, also won by UBC, Josh Whyte led with 16 points, while Kamar Burke had a team-leading 13 rebounds to with 14 points off the bench. The T-Birds struggled to get a rhythm in the first quarter, but went on a 14–5 run at the end of the second quarter to lead 34–28 at the half.

The Thunderbirds’ defense, a strength all year (holding teams to just 69.4 points a game, best in the conference), held Calgary in check most of the night, as UBC held the Dinos to just 40 points after three quarters.

UBC now faces the Huskies in the gold medal match, in a rematch from the Canada West semifinals two weeks ago, which the Huskies won 104–87 in overtime. The T-Birds will be looking to win their first national title since 1972, while the Huskies aim to continue an improbable run which has seen them upset four top-ten teams in the last two weeks. It’s a rematch that the entire team has been hoping for in the past two weeks.

“If we’re fortunate enough to get that wildcard, as an example we can look at the Olympics (men’s hockey tournament) where Canada lost to the US in the first round. It would be a great scenario to for us to have that same chance in two weeks.”

Time will tell if that scenario will unfold in the way Hanson wishes.

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