Their chance for gold is gone.
The UNBC Northern Timberwolves, the top-seeded team at the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association men's basketball national championship, lost a Friday semifinal game 78-71 to the fourth-ranked Mohawk College Mountaineers of Hamilton. The Timberwolves, who were seeking their second national banner in three years, can still finish as bronze-medalists at the tournament, being played in Truro, N.S.
In a game of momentum swings, the Mountaineers outscored the T-wolves 13-2 in the final stages of the third quarter and took a 66-55 lead. UNBC opened the fourth on a 12-0 run and, suddenly, had a 67-66 advantage.
But, after that, the Mountaineers were a little better in their offensive and defensive execution and gave themselves enough of a cushion to seal the victory.
"We were in the game but down the stretch we had some open looks that just didn't fall for us," said UNBC head coach Todd Jordan. "There were a couple key rebounds we just couldn't get.
"We battled," Jordan added. "I'm proud of the guys -- they worked real hard."
A big problem for the Timberwolves was the loss of six-foot-10 post player Kevan Madsen in the second quarter. While defending in the paint, Madsen took a forearm to the face and, with one eye swollen shut, missed the rest of the game. In the absence of Madsen, the Stark brothers -- six-foot-four Dennis and six-foot-three Dan -- did an admirable job checking Mohawk's big man, six-six Andrew Cicuttini. But there's no real replacement for size. To make matters even more difficult for UNBC, six-foot-three forward Charles Barton -- an athletic rebounder and inside point-producer -- saw limited floor time because of early foul trouble.
"The guys did everything they could and we just had some unfortunate bounces," Jordan said.
This morning (6 a.m. Pacific time), the Timberwolves will face the sixth-ranked St. Thomas University Tommies of Fredericton in a qualifier for the bronze-medal game. If they win, they'll take on either eighth-ranked Red Deer College or the third-seeded Indiens d'Ahuntsic of Montreal for bronze at 2 p.m. Pacific.
UNBC beat Red Deer 88-65 in a Thursday quarterfinal.
Jordan said he isn't sure if Madsen will be ready for action today.
Tonight's championship game (4 p.m. Pacific) will see the Mountaineers battle the second-ranked Mount Royal University Cougars of Calgary. The Royals downed the Indiens 90-86 in Friday's other semifinal.
"I wouldn't be surprised at all to see [the Mountaineers] walk out of here as national champs," Jordan said. "They're a very good team."
All games are available via webcast at (www.ccaamensbasketball2012.ca.
