The 60th edition of the All Native Basketball tournament delivered some thrilling finishes on the way to Championship Saturday, with games requiring overtime and double over time to set the stage for the Final Four on the Final day.
The Russell Gamble Gymnasium was an incubator of enthusiasm through the day as fans settled to cheer on the final eight teams left standing after the gruelling six day tourney, with some teams taking a much longer and exhausting route to stake their claim to the final berths.
Women's Division
In the women's finale, the Haisla of Kitamaat once again reigned supreme, successfully defending their championship, holding off Similkameen by a score of 45 to 39 to capture the honours.
The Haisla had the easier path to the final thanks to early victories at the start of the week, the Kamloops team in the end were on the court for three games in less than 28 hours as they battled their way through the pack to take their shot against the defending champs.
The full run of the tournament can be reviewed here.
🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀
Masters Division
Mid afternoon brought the Masters to the Court and again a defending champion would not be denied as Hydaburg topped Lax Kw'alaams by a score of 98 to 72.
The defending champs did not take an easy route to their title, with two games on Friday charting their course to a return to the Final, but once there they dominated the Lax Kw'alaams squad to secure their fifth ANBT title in a row, making them one of the most impressive contingents in recent tournament history.
The full review of the path to the final can be found here.
🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀
Intermediate Division
Those with the most energy put on the most entertaining of the days matches as Skidegate and the Prince Rupert Bad Boys battled it out for the full forty minutes, the youngsters of Haida Gwaii finally securing an 85 to 83 victory.
It was highly entertaining ball to watch, with skill, showcase shots and the odd mental error making for the narrative of the championship that bodes well for the future for the upper divisions of the tournament.
For the Rupert side the game marked their third contest in a twenty four hour period and despite that volume of basketball they gave the Skidegate side all they could handle and if not for a few shots going off a rim or backboard the title would not have been leaving the city on the ferry at tournament end.
The tournament scoreboard can be explored here.
🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀
Seniors Division
The Showcase event for tournament time is the prime time showdown of the Senior Men's and this year brought Kitkatla back to the court for an encore as the crowd settled in, jamming the Russell Gamble to the rafters for the contest with Vancouver to put the wrap on the 2019 tournament.
The expectations were high as tip off arrived, that following a thrilling double over time contest in the morning that had propelled the Vancouver squad to the finals over the crowd favourite Skidegate.
The anticipation for the grand finale high as the crowd began to whip itself up, the Kitkatla side clearly the favourite of the boisterous fans in the seats and standing in every nook and cranny of the gymnasium.
The championship night belonged to Jacob Thom, who at times put on a clinic for the crowd and those on the court scoring threes with ease, defending the rim with energy and running the floor like an admiral commanding a fleet.
For a period of the game he also became somewhat of a marked man, with much attention from the Vancouver defenders, facing what were some questionable hits on the court at times from his opposites on the Vancouver side.
The Big City team however could not really keep the pace with Kitkatla who never appeared to be in any danger eventually hitting the century plus mark on their way to the 102 to 85 victory making for Back to Back championships.
One takeaway from the final is how the quality of the Senior Men's finals continues to get better and better, sparked on by success of some of the players in university and college ball as they bring their talents back to their home nations for a showing at the tournament.
A review of the road to Saturday's finale can be found here.
The awards presentations brought it all to an end by 10:30, the celebrants heading off into the night towards dinner and celebrations around the city to draw tournament time to a close.
You can review some of the notes of Tournament week from our archive page here.
To view the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment