CALGARY -- For the second time in two years, the UNBC Northern Timberwolves and Mount Saint Vincent University Mystics will try to outgun each other at nationals.
The Timberwolves and Halifax-based Mystics will tip off in a semifinal game tonight at SAIT Polytechnic, host school for the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association men's basketball national championship.
Last year, when the national event was held at the Northern Sport Centre in Prince George, the teams met in a first-round contest and the underdog T-wolves nearly pulled off an epic upset. The Mystics, who were seeded No. 1, got a late foul shot from veteran Ibrahaim Toulany, a bucket that gave them a 73-72 lead. Mount Saint Vincent scored another point from the line and then UNBC's Inderbir Gill came up short on a jumper that would have tied the game in front of a frenzied sellout crowd.
Final score, Mystics 74, Timberwolves 72. The T-wolves were the eighth and lowest seed but used the momentum they generated to eventually finish fourth. The Mystics, who never found their groove after getting the scare from UNBC, placed fifth.
Many of the same players will be on the floor tonight at SAIT. This time, a spot in Saturday's gold-medal game will go to the winner.
"We've got to come out strong and I think it will be a good game all the way through," said UNBC's Jesse Smith. "As far as how I feel playing MSVU again, it's just like a new team. We've only played them once before so I don't feel a sense of revenge."
Both UNBC and Mount Saint Vincent were pushed to the limit to get through their opening games on Thursday. UNBC beat Fanshawe College 76-71 in a comeback and Mount Saint Vincent held off Sainte-Foy 54-48.
See Friday's Citizen for more.
