It was far from a perfect game by their standards, but the Keyano Huskies Men's Basketball team shut down the PACWEST wildcard Camosun College Chargers in the fourth quarter to earn a 75-50 victory Wednesday at the 2024 CCAA Men's Basketball National Championship in Sackville, New Brunswick.
"They're a very well-coached and tough defensive team," Head Coach Jeremy Wielenga said. "It was a very tough battle and I thought our guys got more and more confident as the game went on; they started to figure it out.
"We made some pretty big plays and turned the corner in the fourth quarter."
An Omeechi Williams three-point shot on the opening drive of the game, 14 seconds in, set the tone for the eventual Huskies victory, but it took a while for the ACAC Champions to put distance between themselves and their British Columbian opponents.
That three-point margin was as big as the Huskies' lead would get until near the final minute of the quarter when a three-point play after the free throw make by DJ Haynes extended the lead to six.
By the midway mark of the second quarter though the Chargers had established a three-point lead of their own, requiring a Huskies comeback on a 15-4 run in the final 4:06 of the first half to give the Huskies an eight-point lead.
While the Huskies continued to hit shots in the third, so did the Chargers, who closed the gap to six over the course of the quarter.
Then the Huskies flipped a switch for the start of the fourth quarter. Twenty-nine seconds into the quarter; Keenan Miller three. After a missed three by the Chargers, Miller hit another three to turn the lead into double digits.
"It was just momentum when Keenan hit those shots and guys kinda fed off it," Wielenga commented. "It led to us getting a few more stops on the defensive end and he got going and we just kept getting the ball back to him and rode him. He played a heck of a game and we don't win that game without him."
The Huskies' lead did shrink to eight a few moments later, but as the Huskies revved up, so did their lead. From the 8:12 mark of the fourth quarter to 2:47 left in the quarter, the Chargers' score did not change. By the time they made a bucket, the Huskies led by 19 and eventually took the game by 25.
"We just try to stick with our game plan and I thought our guys didn't waver," Wielenga said of his team working through the early adversity of a new opponent in a new gym. "We had a bunch of turnovers there in the fourth quarter that kind of hurt us, but I thought we really rebounded well towards the end of the third and fourth quarter that helped it getting done down the stretch."
As mentioned, Miller was on fire with 22 points, making six of his seven field goals from beyond the arc. Williams was right there too with 16 points, including five three-point shots. Haynes and Nahshon Hurst each added 10 with Haynes collecting the double-double with 10 rebounds on his stat line as well as five assists and four steals.
Collectively, the Huskies shot 50.9% (28-for-55), making 14 of their 24 attempted three-point shots.
The Huskies will now match up against the OCAA Champion Humber College Hawks, the seven-time national champions. Wielenga was already looking forward to the challenge that lay ahead.
"They're a powerhouse and a juggernaut of a program," he said. "Obviously one of the biggest schools and population in the CCAA and multiple national championships.
"It's going to be a very good game. They're very well-coached, they have lots of athleticism, and we're looking forward to the challenge."
