Match #9 — VIU Mariners 87 vs. MSVU Mystics 61

With their big man in foul trouble early, the VIU Mariners used a deep bench to defeat the MSVU Mystics 87-61 in the seventh place game Friday at the 2024 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association men’s national basketball championship at Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B.

The PACWEST champion Mariners outscored the ACAA champion Mystics 46-25 in the second half to blow open what was a close affair at half time. Powering the VIU surge was their bench, which posted 41 points to just 16 by the Mystics reserves.

All-Canadian centre Adam Anhold of VIU got into early foul trouble and fouled out of the game midway through the third quarter, held to just three points. Kaeleb Johnson answered the call, hooping 31 points in a dominant performance. Kai Leighton picked up the post duties for the Mariners and added 18.

Chase Tynes responded after two quiet opening games and led the Mystics with 26, adding 13 rebounds. Adam Callaghan had 14 for MSVU.

Johnson and Tynes were selected as 4Imprint Players of the Game. Johnson said the Mariners were determined to prevail after Anhold fouled out. “We had to just run our plays, trust each other and take what the other team gave us,” Johnson said post-game. He admitted he was motivated to provide a spark to the Mariners after a self-described sub-par performance earlier in the tournament. “I had some family watching back home and I wanted to prove to them that I belonged.”

The Mystics also got in foul trouble in the chippy affair, with sharpshooter Jaxon Smith picking up his fourth infraction before the end of the third quarter.

Match #10 – Humber Hawks 80 vs. Vanier Cheetahs 61

The Humber Hawks won the turnover battle Friday afternoon, powering their way to a 80-61 victory over the Vanier Cheetahs to punch their ticket to the bronze medal game at the 2024 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association national men’s basketball tournament at Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B.

The Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) champion Hawks turned 21 Vanier turnovers into 31 points. Many of those turnovers came on 15 steals, several coming from some fierce perimeter defence by Humber.

Diminutive Humber guard Jalen Menzies exploded for 27 points in the second half, on his way to a game high 33. Menzies stole the ball on successive plays leading to fast-break points to blow open the game in the third quarter.

Menzies was helped by 6’6” power forward Malik Grant, the 4Imprint Player of the Game, who had 15 points, 13 rebounds and six assists.

Raphael Dumont had a big game for the Cheetahs, the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RESQ) champions, with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Yanis Malanda added 11 points and 14 rebounds for Vanier. Dumont was the 4Imprint Player of the Game for Vanier.

Humber led by only one point at half as the teams traded baskets in what might have been the most fast-paced game of the championship to date. 

Grant found a sweet spot at the top of the key against the Vanier defence in the second half, scoring repeatedly against the Vanier zone. “It just depends on what defence they are playing,” Grant explained post-game. “They were playing a two-three zone and I was able to find the spot in the middle and make some hoops.”

Humber will now play in the tournament’s bronze medal game at 5 p.m. AST Saturday in the McCormack Gymnasium at Mount Allison.

Vanier doesn’t go home to Montreal empty-handed. The CEGEP school received the official banner as hosts of the 2025 CCAA national men’s championship.

Match #11 — Camosun Chargers 73 vs. Mount Allison Mounties 52

Win for a chance at a National bronze medal. Lose, and the season is over. They never should have been here after losing in the ACAA semifinals by one point to St. Thomas. Not even Mount Saint Vincent, the ACAA champions, could have expected an 0-3 tournament, finishing in eighth place. 

Sometimes, though, the impossible becomes possible at the CCAA National Championships.

This contest, in which the Camosun Chargers came out victorious 73 to 52 against the host Mount Allison Mounties, started early in the first quarter with two quick three-point opportunities from Lucas Sheets of the Chargers and Mount Allison’s Edmond Surur. 

With things off to a doozy in the McCormack Gymnasium on Friday night and down by three early, head coach Steve Chapman opted to substitute key starters Ryan Norris and Jonas Munroe for sixth and seventh men Keith Rowen and Gabe Powter.

Powter hit a game-time long ball, wide open, to even the score at 13 a piece. The quarter’s star may have been Camosun’s sixth man, Cormick Brown, who was well-utilized to find open space with speed and leave his guard, Rowen, well behind the play. His leadership by example pushed his Chargers to a 22-15 lead after the end of one quarter. 

By the end of the first half, Mount Allison had only fallen further behind the demonstrative hustle from the Chargers offence. Leading 34-19 after the half, the Chargers have not only relied on their top players in Sheets and Jesse Vogels but their entire squad.

Eight players have contributed at least 1 point, ten have seen the floor, and despite being scoreless, starting guard from Spain Jaime Palamos Molins has chipped in with 2 rebounds and 5 assists. Whereas for the Mounties, Tim Ellison had as many rebounds as fouls, and Jonas Munroe made a mere 1-7 of his field goals. Should the contest turn around in the second half, their off-court leaders must make a statement.

After a 9-0 Chargers run to open the third, Ellison’s relentless effort provided the Mounties with a glimmer of hope, putting away an offensive rebound. This was quickly followed by a Surur three. Alas, the crowd awoke when Gayo Isaya blocked a Chargers layup attempt. Perhaps the Mounties would not go gentle into that good night.

Down 60 to 34 with 10 minutes remaining, it would take a gutsy effort to come back against a Chargers squad poised for bronze, led thus far by Sheets’s ever-impressive 14 points and perfect three-point percentage.

The charge of Camosun would be too much for the hosting Mount Allison Mounties. The ever-selfless 4imprint Player of the Game Noah Helman reflected on their season and how the entire year had “led up until the semifinals of our provincial tournament.” 

The win sent Camosun to the National tournament here in Sackville, NB, who now have a chance to bring home some hardware to the Pacific West conference. They will need to continue to rely on Helman’s wise words if they are to do so: “one of my principles [is] you get the ball, swing it, pass one more.”

An ode to the Mounties, and the best of luck to the Chargers in tomorrow’s bronze medal matchup at 5:00 PM.

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