One of the mantras of the 2023-24 Keyano Huskies Men’s Basketball team has been to overcome the obstacle in the immediate.  
 
Give no thought of their own championship aspirations or the legacy behind their opposition, what matters is the next possession, next individual move to create separation, next one-on-one battle.  
 
Thursday night in Sackville, New Brunswick the Huskies overcame again and again to down the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) Champion Humber Hawks by a 63-56 score.  
 
In doing so, the Huskies reached their first Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Men’s Basketball Championship Game ever and second in the athletic program’s history.  

“It was definitely a game of runs both ways,” Head Coach Jeremy Wielenga said. “Both teams went on very big runs that flipped the game both ways.  
 
“We’re extremely fortunate to come out on top.”  

With the teams exchanging early buckets, the Huskies took their first lead of the game as DJ Haynes knocked down his first of three three-point shots in the game with 7:12 remaining in the opening quarter.  
 
Down 19-14 after the quarter, the Huskies didn’t look fazed. Instead, they came out harder in the second quarter. After a Hawks layup put them up 23-17 just 29 seconds into the quarter, the Huskies shut down their opponents until a free throw make nearly seven minutes later when the score was now 32-24 in favour of the Huskies. By the time the teams headed into the halftime break, the Huskies had outscored the Hawks 20-5 in the quarter and led by 10.
 
The third quarter was a chance for the seven-time national champions from Toronto, Ontario to respond.  
 
What was a 10-point lead at the start of the third quarter for the Huskies became a 36-36 game with 2:43 left in the quarter as the Hawks flexed their muscles for stop after stop and forcing eight of the Huskies’ 21 turnovers in the frame.  
 
As the clock turned over to the fourth quarter, the Huskies flipped momentum back on their side. Sixteen seconds in, a Nahshon Hurst three-point shot flipped the Huskies back into a lead they wouldn’t relinquish for the rest of the game.  
 
“We just continued to try to play our game,” Wielenga continued. “We were just relying on our defence like we have all year. Some of that eventually turned into offence.  
 
“Nahshon got us off to a good start in the fourth quarter by hitting that three and I think we went on a five or 7-0 run there and it kickstarted the fourth.” 
 
The run was actually a 17-0 onslaught that lasted until there was 1:44 left in the fourth quarter, but that was still more than enough time for the Hawks to come back.  

With the Hawks fouling to get the Huskies to the line and hitting three-point shot after three-point shot, the game went from a comfortable – if such a word can even be used in the game of basketball - 54-40 lead to a tight 60-56 game with 15 seconds left.  
 
The Hawks’ long-range luck would run out though as the Huskies secured the seven-point win.  

“It’s been a lot of hard work,” Wielenga commented on making it to the national championship game. “There’s a lot of people that have been involved in this process, whether it’s former players, people that have been a part of the program, and to the accumulation to get to this point, it’s been a long time coming and a lot of work.  
 
“Job’s not done though and we've still got one more to go.”  
 
The Huskies finished the game shooting 36.4% (20-for-55) from the field, making five three-point shots on 15 attempts. They went 18-for-26 (69.2%) on free throws with Haynes and Player of the Game Evan Meyer topping the Huskies with 15 points each. Meyer added 12 rebounds for the double-double performance.  
 
Hurst also finished in double digits with 10 points while Keenan Miller had nine and Omeechi Williams had seven. De’Andre Anderson had five off the bench and Liban Yousef made one of his two shots in the game.  
 
In the other national semifinal, the OCAA Silver Medallist George Brown College Huskies beat the host Mount Allison University Mounties 80-76, setting up an all-Huskies championship game.  
 
“George Brown is a very talented team and they have some really big-time athletes,” Wielenga said in his early thoughts on the matchup. “They’re long, they can shoot it and it’s going to be a very big test on Saturday night.”  
 
The Huskies from Keyano and the Huskies from George Brown College will clash in Sackville, New Brunswick on Saturday, March 16 at 7:30pm AT (4:30pm MT). 
 
The game will be available to watch on CCAA.vidflex.tv.