Canada's top college basketball player wears the green and gold of the UNBC Northern Timberwolves.
Inderbir Gill, a fifth-year UNBC guard, won the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association national player of the year award Wednesday night in Oshawa, Ont., site of the CCAA national championship tournament.
Gill, who had previously been named player of the year in B.C., beat out four other players for the national honour. Also in the running were Dominyc Coward of Lethbridge College, Eric Smith of Oshawa's Durham College, Guillaume Payen-Bouchard of Montreal's Collge Ahuntsic and Donathan Moss of Charlottetown's Holland College.
"I'm honoured to get this award -- it feels good but our main goal is to win the championship," the 24-year-old Gill told The Citizen. "That's why we're here."
Gill and the rest of the T-wolves will start defence of their national title when they tip off against Coward and the Kodiaks today at Durham College.
In the B.C. Colleges Athletic Association this season, Gill led the Timberwolves to a 16-2 record. His 383 points were most in the 10-team league and his 21.28 points-per-game average was second to Andrew Kaban of the Vancouver Island University Mariners (21.73). Gill also finished second in overall assists, with 94. VIU's Jacob Thom led the way with 102 helpers.
Todd Jordan, first-year head coach of the T-wolves, said Gill has "worked hard his whole time at UNBC" and is "very deserving" of the CCAA player of the year recognition. Gill is liked and respected by his teammates, so their reaction was no surprise.
"They gave him a big cheer," Jordan said. "They are extremely happy and proud of what he's accomplished."
Last year, Gill was a finalist for the same award but didn't win it. Instead, it went to Brett Kobe of Calgary's Mount Royal University.
At Wednesday's banquet, Gill was also presented with a CCAA All-Canadian award. He now has an All-Canadian plaque for each of his three years at UNBC.
"I think it's a reflection of our team success," he said of his All-Canadian three-peat. "We've won some games the past three years and because of that I've been able to get this three years in a row."
Gill, from Spokane, Wash., was originally recruited into the UNBC program by former head coach Zane Robison, who needed a point guard to run the show during the 2008-09 season and at the 2009 nationals, which featured the T-wolves as the host team.
n The Timberwolves arrived in Oshawa late Tuesday afternoon and had the chance to practice for an hour on Wednesday.
"It was great," Gill said. "We got a feel of the gym. It's a really nice facility and we're looking forward to [today]. We're focused and can't wait to get this started."
