It was the last chapter in the most intense rivalry in B.C. men's college basketball.
The UNBC Northern Timberwolves got the ending they wanted.
Saturday night in North Vancouver, the Timberwolves and Vancouver Island University Mariners of Nanaimo engaged in a heavyweight battle of a provincial championship game. The T-wolves, thanks to a brilliant first quarter and a clutch three-pointer by Sam Raphael 90 seconds before the final buzzer, won 69-61 and celebrated their second playoff title in three years.
"It was nice to get that one," said Raphael, a fourth-year guard/forward from Prince George.
"It was one of our goals at the start of the year to be at the provincial final and of course win it. But, more so, it just feels good because we know we're on the right track to reaching our ultimate goal of winning the nationals."
In the PACWEST Athletic Association -- formerly the B.C. Colleges Athletic Association -- the Timberwolves and Mariners have been the dominant teams the past three years. In 2010, UNBC beat VIU 84-65 in the B.C. final and went on to win gold at the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association national championship tournament in Calgary. Last year, the Mariners claimed the B.C. crown with a 96-90 win against the T-wolves. Now, the rubber match has gone to UNBC, which is moving up to the Canada West conference of Canadian Interuniversity Sport next season.
This regular season, the Mariners were the top team with a 15-1 record. The second-place Timberwolves went 13-3 and lost twice to VIU, 84-77 and 76-71.
In Saturday's game for gold, played at Capilano University, the T-wolves came out on fire. They blitzed the Mariners with four three-pointers in the opening stages of the first quarter and led 23-10 going into the second.
That's when everything changed. The defences tightened up and players on both teams had to fight for every shot. VIU managed 11 points in the quarter and UNBC hit for just six. At the half, the Timberwolves were still ahead, 29-21.
Early in the third, the Mariners pulled to within two points at 29-27 but Francis Rowe -- who spent the second quarter on the bench because he had two fouls against him -- promptly drained a long field goal and that seemed to break the ice for the Timberwolves. They started to score again and were in front 44-35 at the three-quarter break.
In the fourth, VIU kept chipping away at the lead and finally found itself in a one-point deficit, 58-57 with 2:29 to play.
Cue Raphael.
With 1:30 left on the clock, he sank his huge three-pointer from the top part of the arc and, moments later, started a play that ended with Charles Barton cutting through the VIU defence for another bucket. The Timberwolves had a 63-57 lead and weren't threatened again.
"Those two guys both had great tournaments," said UNBC head coach Todd Jordan. "Sam was extremely good defensively for us as well. He did a great job on [veteran guard] Jacob Thom and Charles did a great job on their other leading scorer [Richard Townsend Gant]. Sam and Charles made big plays offensively but we had some stretches where we really struggled offensively and for us to be able to hold those guys defensively during those stretches was a big thing for us."
Guard Joel Rybachuk was another difference-maker for the T-wolves. He was hot from the field at the right times and was a stopper on defence. For his work, he was chosen as player of the game for UNBC. Rowe got the nod as tournament MVP and Raphael was picked as an all-star.
Nationals, March 15-17 in Truro, N.S., are up next for the T-wolves. This will be their fourth consecutive appearance in the Canadian championship tournament. They hosted the event in 2009 and finished fourth, won that title in 2010 and received the second B.C. berth last year and placed fifth.
