In a history-making season, the UNBC Timberwolves men's basketballl team added another first to the school resume.
The T-wolves defeated the eighth-ranked Winnipeg Wesmen 71-68 Thursday night in Winnipeg - UNBC's first-ever
U Sports Canada West basketball playoff victory.
UNBC guard James Agyeman drove the lane for a layup to tie the game with 45 seconds left and Vaggelis Loukas provided the go-ahead points from the free-throw line, nailing both attempts with 21 seconds left on the clock.
Winnipeg had a chance to force overtime but the T-wolves played it tough on defence and a pass attempt to Sean Tarver went out of bounds. The Wesmen were forced to foul the Timberwolves with five seconds left, and Jovan Leamy hit one of his two foul shots and Winnipeg was unable to get close with its buzzer-beater.
"I just thought we were mentally tougher," said UNBC head coach Todd Jordan, who shook hands after the game with Wesmen coach Mike Raimbault, who coached at UNBC 10 years ago, while Jordan was an assistant.
"Five minutes left I think we were down by six and we just kept chipping away and got stops and found enough buckets to win the basketball game. We just showed some resiliency down the stretch and didn't give up on ourselves.
"It's not always pretty when you get a win on the road but it was a gritty win for the guys, I'm proud of them."
Leamy, a fourth-year recruit from Ontario, delivered a standout effort in his first Canada West playoff game, putting up a game-high 18 points. He also had nine rebounds and four blocked shots. His free throw at the end capped the scoring, giving UNBC a three-point lead. Vova Pluzhnikov finished with 17 points, six assists and five rebounds and Loukas had eight points and 10 rebounds.
Narcisse Ambanza led the Wesmen with 15 points, Billy Yaworsky had 14 points and 13 rebounds, while Tarver collected 12 points and 13 rebounds.
UNBC was down 43-39 at the half and 52-48 after three quarters. Both teams struggled offensively in the fourth quarter but UNBC found its rhythm when it counted most, outscoring the Wesmen 13-6 in the final 10 minutes.
"It was an up an up-and-down game and it was really loose for the first three quarters," said Jordan. "It seemed one team would make a run and then the other team would make a run, and what it came down to at the end of the game was we just did a great job locking up the game defensively. "Vagellis made a couple of huge free throws down the stretch and it was great to see our defence hold us in and win us that basketball game in the fourth quarter."
Both teams finished the season with 10-10 records. Winnipeg was awarded the higher seed over the 10th-ranked T-wolves based on the ratings performance index (RPI), a reflection of the quality of its Canada West opponents during the season.
With their victory, the T-wolves advance to the Canada West quarterfinal round against the top-seeded Alberta Golden Bears.
They'll take on the Bears (19-1) in a best-of-three series which starts Friday in Edmonton. That game will start at 2 p.m. PT. The only blemish on the Golden Bears' record came on Dec. 2 in Edmonton when they lost 92-83 to Victoria.
UNBC did not play Alberta in the regular season.
"They're loaded with talent and we're going into that as pretty heavy underdogs and we just have to go in and compete and see what kind of noise we can make," said Jordan. "We return everybody except Marcus (MacKay) and Dan (Stark) next season and those moments of playing in big games are invaluable going into next year when we will have a veteran-laden squad. That experience, win or lose, it going to be big for our program."
There was no happy ending for the UNBC women in their playoff game earlier Thursday against the Wesmen in Winnipeg. They lost 82-65 and the T-wolves' season is over.
UNBC trailed 41-32 at halftime. A 9-0 run in the third quarter put the Wesmen ahead 51-42 but the T-wolves reduced the gap and trailed by only three, down 60-57 heading into the fourth quarter. Winnipeg outscored the T-wolves 25-15 in the final 10 minutes to lock up the win.
Faith Hezekiah and Antoinette Miller each were deadly from long range and both Wesmen shooters finished with 24 points. Hezekiah led Winnipeg with 12 rebounds and Miller picked up five assists.
Maria Mongomo did her job offensively for UNBC, collecting 23 points. Vasiliki Louka was tough on the boards, as usual, and picked up a game-high 19 rebounds. The fourth-year post also drew three assists.
Winnipeg finished the season with a 15-6 record while UNBC was 9-11. The Wesmen drew the No. 7 seed based on their RPI rating and the T-wolves were ranked 11th after claiming their second-consecutive playoff berth.
This was the first year in which both UNBC basketball teams made the playoffs.
