A massive wave emanating from Vancouver Island University swept across the Georgia Strait over the weekend and washed away the title hopes of the host Capilano Blues and the rest of the contenders at the PacWest basketball championships.
The undefeated VIU men won in dominant fashion, while the top-ranked women used a massive fourth-quarter comeback to dash the golden dreams of the underdog Blues.
The third-ranked Capilano women did an admirable job of defending their home court throughout the championships, opening the tournament with an 80-66 win over Camosun in the quarterfinals Thursday before scoring a thrilling 72-69 overtime upset over the second-ranked Douglas Royals in the semifinals Friday.
The Blues looked poised to complete the golden run Saturday as they went toe-to-toe with the Mariners, even taking a nine-point lead with just eight minutes left in the game. But those final eight minutes were heroic ones for VIU and heartbreaking for Capilano as the Mariners finished the game on a 28-5 run to snatch gold from the Blues with a 65-51 win. The win also earned the Mariners the league’s sole berth in the CCAA national championships. After the game Capilano coach Ramin Sadaghiani tried to wrap his head around the late-game swoon.
“They hit some big shots at the end of the game and we didn’t hit those same shots that we got,” he said. “It’s just the way basketball goes sometimes.”
The Mariners hit four three-pointers during the run, including a shot-clock-beating bank shot that gave them a two-point lead they never relinquished. VIU was led by tournament MVP Lanae Adams who had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Sienna Pollard who scored 14 with 13 rebounds and player of the game Jamie MacFarlane who scored 16 points in the win, including a dagger three-pointer that made the score 57-50 with less than two minutes to play.
“Credit to them – they hit those shots when the game was on the line and their backs were against the wall,” said Sadaghiani. “They’re a team that – and I’ve seen it all season – if they have a sluggish first half they have the ability to turn it on really quickly, and they did that again today.”
Aside from the final eight minutes of the tournament, the Blues played their best ball of the season at the championships, said Sadaghiani.
“We got better as the season went, we peaked right at the end and we gave ourselves a chance to win the whole thing,” he said. “Unfortunately we fell short a little bit.”
Team co-captain Michelle Errico said there were tears in the locker room after the game but she took solace in the effort the Blues displayed on the court during the tournament.
“I think we played really well, I’m really proud of our entire team,” she said. “Every single person stepped it up. We’ve never played defence that well the whole year, that’s been our struggle. The whole year our coaches have been on us saying we need to guard better, we need to defend, and I felt like we did that this whole tournament. We were defending, we were shutting teams down.”
Sadaghiani credited Errico and co-captain Jennafer Palma, both fifth-year players whose careers came to an end Saturday, with setting the tone for the team throughout the season.
“The chemistry of this team was so good, and as captains they have a lot to do with that with what they bring and just who they are as people,” he said. “It kind of reflected on the rest of the team.”
Errico leaves the program as the leading scorer in Capilano history with the fifth-highest point total in PacWest history.
Third-year players Ashley De La Cruz Yip and Carmel M’Bikata were Capilano’s two representatives on the PacWest championship all-star team. Ashley, a point guard known for her tough defence, turned on her offence as well during the tournament, relentlessly attacking with drives to the basket.
“She was aggressive, she was getting to the rim, she was hitting big shots,” said Sadaghiani. “I really saw something from her I hadn’t seen all season.”
M’Bikata provided the muscle inside for the Blues, picking up a double-double in every game, averaging 16 points and 10.3 rebounds per game in the tournament.
“She had a fantastic season,” said Sadaghiani. “Last year she wasn’t even a league all-star. She had a great offseason, came back and really showed us what she can do.”
The championship loss was still fresh for the Capilano players and coaches on Saturday but over time that silver medal will seem shinier, said Errico.
“I’m obviously upset because we’re not going to nationals, we didn’t win gold, but to be honest we fought really hard,” she said. “When I look back at it I’ll be happy with a silver medal. Sure I’m really upset right now – I can just see myself winning that gold – but I got to play with my sister (Sherrie Errico), I got to play with a great team. Either way I got to finish on my home court, it’s a good way to go out.”
“You always want that gold, you want to go to nationals and prove yourself there,” added Sadaghiani. “But I’m very proud of the silver and our improvement throughout the year. This team had great chemistry and if at the end of the year you can leave and say you gave it your best and you had fun doing it, that’s what we did, and I would call that a pretty successful season.”
On the men’s side the fourth-ranked Blues opened their tournament with an 83-74 win over fifth-ranked Douglas College, setting up a semifinal showdown against VIU, the No. 1-ranked team in the country.
It was a mismatch on paper with the Mariners boasting eight players in their third, fourth, or fifth year of college ball while the Blues had zero such players. Early on it was a mismatch on the court as well as the Mariners built a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, but the Blues hung around, eventually narrowing the margin to three points in the third quarter, 47-44. But from then on the Mariners piled up the points, pulling away for an 87-69 win.
The Blues went on to lose a 93-90 overtime heartbreaker to second-ranked Quest University in the bronze medal game.
The Mariners went on to take the title with a 97-73 win over sixth-seeded underdogs Camosun in an all-island final. Both teams will represent the PacWest at the national championships.
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Prior to the tournament the league announced the PacWest all-stars. Capilano’s Michelle Errico ended her career by earning a spot on the first all-star team while teammate Carmel M’Bikata was named to the second all-star squad.
On the men’s side Capilano’s Martin Bogajev, the league’s leading scorer with an average of 21.8 points per game, earned a spot on the first all-star team while E.J. Mabone and Cordell Parker were both named to the PacWest all-rookie team.
