40 seconds into the Canada West men’s basketball final, UBC’s first team all-star Nikola Guzina, scored off a putback to give the Thunderbirds a 2–0 lead. This would be the last time the ‘Birds led in the game.
Coming into this week’s final, UBC had played two consecutive nervy playoff matches, first against the Manitoba Bisons in the quarterfinals, and then the Winnipeg Wesmen in the semis, in an overtime nailbiter. Victoria, on the other hand, had breezed through their playoff matchups, winning both games by over 20 points. This year, UBC was coming off a disappointing early exit at nationals, falling in the first round to UPEI. Victoria won the national championship. Yet, heading into the playoffs, these teams were neck-and-neck.
In a pseudo-playoff game, the Thunderbirds lost out on the top spot in the CW Pacific Division by falling in their final game of the regular season to the Vikes. This gave Victoria the No. 2 seed and an easier path through the playoffs. While UBC had fallen short of passing their in-province rivals in the standings, the fact that they were even in that position was impressive. If the T-Birds had won that game, they would have passed the Vikes on the head-to-head tiebreaker, having already beat Victoria twice in the regular season, with UVic ranked as the No. 1 team in the country in both games. Now, in the conference final, UBC was looking to avenge their season-ending loss — and they knew they had the capacity to do so. But at the start of the game, they didn’t show that.
The Vikes were absolutely dominant in the first quarter. After UBC’s brief 2–0 lead, second-year guard Cam Slaymaker struck first for UVic, picking up five points in 45 seconds to put the Vikes up three. Initially, Victoria’s offence was a tad slow, but they made up for it with an absolutely suffocating defence. In the first quarter, Victoria forced six turnovers and held the ‘Birds to just 22.7 per cent field goal shooting. Like the 2010s’ Golden State Warriors, the Vikes weaponize their tremendous defence by turning it into rapid bursts of scoring. They convert their turnovers into transition baskets and three pointers, and because of that, it feels like they can catch fire at any moment.
Just as anticipated, Victoria’s early dry spell did not last.
With under six minutes left in the quarter, the Vikes were up only 9–5. They finished the quarter up a staggering 29–12.
Second-year guard Dylan Gage came in off the bench to open up the scoring run. He quickly hit back-to-back three-pointers, which sent the packed Victoria crowd into a frenzy. From there, five other Vikes scored in the remainder of the quarter, with Canada West third-team all-star Renoldo Robinson finishing the quarter on a personal 5–0 run.
With that dreadful opening ten minutes behind them, they could only go up from there. While UBC made some offensive in-roads in the second quarter, they still came up far short headed into halftime.
Robinson picked up in the second quarter right where he left off, immediately registering a steal that he dropped off for an assist in transition. UBC, meanwhile, was still visibly struggling with UVic’s defence. They were turning the ball over left and right, and even when getting fouled, they couldn’t convert. The ‘Birds were uncharacteristically missing free throws — something that plagued them for the rest of the game, ultimately finishing 16 of 24 on their attempts.
By the second half of the quarter, the ‘Birds seemed to have settled in — at least a bit. Point guard Holt Tomie connected with Guzina for a few baskets in the paint, finally using their one true advantage — their size — to their benefit. UBC also had an excellent quarter on the glass, out-rebounding the Vikes by eight.
Unfortunately for the Thunderbirds, however, nothing could have possibly prepared them for the hot streak that Robinson went on. With tremendous efficiency — only missing two of his eight shots from the field — Robinson scored 15 points in the second alone, more than any of his teammates had throughout the entire game. He played the entire quarter with great pace, sustaining Victoria’s huge lead almost single-handedly. In the closing minutes, he connected on a corner three and an excellent spin move layup to balloon the Vikes lead up to 15. Robinson’s scoring output is largely why despite their improved play, the Thunderbirds remained down by such a wide margin headed into halftime.
UBC went into the third quarter energized, not looking to go out quietly. The ‘Birds forced four turnovers in the first two minutes and 15 seconds while Tomie began to find his groove on the offensive end of the floor, scoring the T-Birds’ first four points of the frame. Tomie continued his stellar play throughout the quarter, ultimately assisting on three baskets while scoring ten points himself. Critically, UBC was hitting their free throws in the quarter, connecting on a respectable eight out of ten tries.
Headed into the final frame, the ‘Birds appeared ready for the challenge. Having cut the lead to nine, the road back seemed treacherous, but not impossible.
Then, the T-Birds started to stumble. When, with eight minutes left, Guzina was presented with the opportunity to cut the lead to five, he instead missed the layup badly. Gage rebounded the ball and quickly sent it downcourt, where it eventually fell into the hands of Canada West player of the year, Ethan Boag, who immediately connected on a three pointer, bringing the Vikes lead back up to ten, a disheartening five-point swing.
With six minutes left, UBC had once again wrestled themselves within a few possessions, the lead now only at six for the Vikes. But just a minute and a half later, the Vikes were up by 13. It felt as if every time UBC gathered some amount of momentum, Victoria completely crushed it.
Finally, the dagger came. With just over three minutes left, one of the most emphatic sequences of the year occurred.
First, fifth-year Geoffery James, who stands just a smidge over six-foot, poked the ball away from Guzina. As he barrelled down the open court, most were expecting a layup, some thought he may throw in a rim-grazer, but no one expected the thunderous, left-handed jam he threw down. Hanging on the rim, James screamed out at the stands, as the crowd detonated behind him.
Just ten seconds later, things got worse for the ‘Birds. With the crowd murmuring and the mascot still celebrating on the floor at the other end of the court, Shadynn Smid — another Canada West all-star— jumped the passing lane and barrelled down court. This time, the six-foot-seven Smid picked up his dribble just above the three-point line, took two long strides and elevated for a thunderous dunk — resembling Cooper Flagg — and sent the near-feral crowd into a frenzy. In the span of about fifteen seconds, Victoria had ended it. The game was over.
As interim head coach Phil Jalalpoor called a timeout for the ‘Birds, Smid took an extra second to celebrate with the crowd, surely knowing the game had been won.
Unable to gather themselves, UBC only scored twice more and the Vikes ultimately walked away with an 89–74 victory.
Now headed to Calgary for nationals, all is not lost for the T-Birds. If they can salvage this loss with their first national title in over fifty years, all will be forgotten. However, because of their conference finals loss, they will face an uphill battle, being seeded seventh, as opposed to Victoria, who is ranked first. UBC will face off against the OUA champions, the TMU Bold — and newly-minted U Sports player of the year Aaron Rhooms — in the first round.
