There were some fantastic and wild endings to key games in Fridays play at the All Native Basketball Tournament, as teams battled hard to secure a place in Saturday's Finals, with the pace of play, magnificent shots and sometimes a bit of luck making the difference between Favourites and teams looking for one more shot at the Big showcases to come.
It took Double Overtime before Prince Rupert would advance to the Intermediate Final today, a hard fought battle finally delivering the 92-86 victory for the Rupert side over a tough Bella Coola side.
That sent Bella Coola to Saturday's semi-final with Bella Bella and another match that required some extra time to deliver a finalist, with Bella Coola prevailing 98-91 in the heart stopping action and now set for a rematch with Prince Rupert.
The Senior Men's bracket also provided for some to the finish excitement as Metlakatla Alaska battled hard to punch their ticket to the Saturday afternoon showcase topping Skidegate .
The Saints had to regroup for their Semi-Final match of Saturday morning as they tipped off against Kitkatla and they clearly had a berth in the Final on their mind building on their lead through the second half to cruise to a final score of 92 to 69.
In the Women's bracket, a weary and somewhat depleted Prince Rupert Rain side finally ran out of gas, with Kitamaat taking charge of the game early and holding their advantage through matchup advancing on to Saturday's final by a score of 62 to 36.
For the Masters Division New Aiyansh rolled to some early victories this week to guarantee their berth in the final by Thursday. That left it to Hydaburg and Bella Bella to set up the finale in yesterday's Semi, with Hydaburg claiming the afternoon showdown and setting the stage for Saturday.
And like that, after a week of high tempo and quite entertaining basketball we reach the Finals, with an afternoon and evening of memory making to come for all four division as the curtain comes down on the 61st edition of the ANBT.
The schedule for the Finals today looks as follows, all games take place in the Russell Gamble Gymnasium.
Women's Division Final
1 PM
Hazelton 48 vs Kitamaat 75
The Haisla become "threepeat" Champions, taking their third consecutive ANBT Women's title
Masters Division Final
2:30 PM
New Aiyansh 67 vs Hydaburg 66
New Aiyansh claims the Master's Championship on a last second three point shot
Intermediate Division Final
6:00 PM
Prince Rupert 89 vs Bella Coola 66
Prince Rupert wins their first championship since 2010 with tonight's victory
Senior Men's Division Final
7:30 PM
Metlakatla AK 64 vs Skidegate 76
Skidgeate Saints mount the comeback to once again claim an ANBT championship
All games take place in the Russell Gamble Gymnasium, with live streams available from CFNR.
For more notes on the 61st edition of the All Native Tournament see our archive page here.
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