Fans could be forgiven if they underestimated the Keyano Huskies Men’s Basketball team this season.
Going from Silver in 2022 to fourth in 2023, and losing to the South Division’s top two teams in back-to-back regular season games just three weeks ago the Huskies had obviously lost an edge and were only the top team because they played in a weaker division.
Well, underestimate them no longer.
The Men’s Basketball Huskies crowned themselves as Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Champions for the first time in program history Saturday night at the Syncrude Sport & Wellness Centre with a 94-79 victory against the St. Mary’s University Lightning.
“There were some real tough times,” Head Coach Jeremy Wielenga said. “It was really hard at the end of last year, but the only thing I know in my entire life to do is to respond.
“We’ve got a core group of guys together and we said we’re not done yet. We’re going to build this the right way. We decided to put our heads down and fight our way through the darkness and here we are.”
Saturday’s championship game was no cakewalk for the Huskies despite the raucous home crowd overwhelmingly cheering in their favour.
The Lightning led 6-2 in the early moments. Despite trailing by 13 at the half and by 12 in the early moments of the fourth, the South Division’s top team from the regular season turned that deficit into a three-point margin with 4:34 left in regulation.
“Those losses, it really made us have to take a look in the mirror to understand that we weren’t quite there yet and we had to keep building, keep working on some of the things that we had,” Wielenga said of the regular season defeats. “The SAIT game was really really good in terms of the attention to details that we didn’t really take care of.
“I think that helped propel us to pushing ourself to another level knowing that we weren’t good enough that night.”
The Huskies were more than good enough Saturday; they were excellent. Th wild 29-26 fourth quarter was buoyed by 11 free throws for the Huskies on 14 attempts, which helped pad the difference to a comfortable feeling in the final minutes.
“With a team like that, you can never feel too comfortable, whether it’s 30 seconds left and we’re up by eight,” DJ Haynes said. “We just had to play until the final buzzer.”
When the Huskies needed them, their core players stepped up. Haynes led his squad with 19 points while two of this year’s new additions, Keenan Miller and Evan Meyer, each had 18.
Meyer had eight rebounds and Miller had seven to match another new addition, Nahshon Hurst, who had seven rebounds himself to go along with eight points.
Omeechi Williams had 13 points and Efosa Omorogbe added 11, both guys knocking down a trio of three-point shots each. De’Andre Anderson also came off the bench to contribute seven points, five of which came in the critical second quarter.
“First coming here it was hard to adjust, but coming through, built a connection with these guys, started feeling like family,” Meyer said. “It means a lot because we worked demo the start to the finish.”
Meyer’s towering presence down low earned him Tournament MVP honours while Williams and Haynes each earned Tournament All-Star honours.
"It was weird year that had a lot of ups and downs and highs and low,” Wielenga said. “These guys came together at the right time and what a special weekend and special moment. I couldn't be more thankful."
The Huskies will now serve as the ACAC representative at the 2024 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Men's Basketball National Championship, hosted by Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick from March 13-16, 2024.
