Men’s Final 8
2022 U SPORTS Men’s Final 8 Basketball Championship Consolation Final: Dalhousie finishes 5th with dominant victory over Victoria
EDMONTON – The host Alberta Golden Bears rode a 30-point fourth quarter to a U SPORTS Bronze Medal with a 95-84 victory over the Queen’s Gaels Sunday afternoon at the Saville Centre.
The win cements the best national finish for Alberta since the 2013-14 campaign in which they also won the bronze medal.
Brandon Meiklejohn led the Bears with 19 points and was supported by third-year forward Adam Paige who recorded 17 points and 11 rebounds and guard Geoffrey James who sunk five threes for 16 total points.
“We will finish the season with a good taste in our mouth after today. We have a character in our group, and the guys played hard,” said Bears head coach Barnaby Craddock. “Really impressed with that Queen’s program, they are doing a great job over there. It was a great game with those guys today, and put on a good show for the crowd.”
The Gaels were led by another phenomenal performance from Quinton Gray, who dropped a tournament-high 38 points, hitting 8 for 11 from three. Gray added three rebounds and four assists in the losing effort.
Alberta found its depth scoring in the first quarter, with seven Bears recording points in the frame including a quarter-high eight from forward Abdullah Shittu. Alberta led by eleven going into the second quarter where the defensive intensity picked up as both teams combined to shoot just 20.5% from the field. A 13-0 Gaels run late in the quarter, led by Gray, would send the Bears into halftime with a slim 41-39 lead.
Alberta found its shooting form in a fourth-quarter in which they sunk six threes and shot over 50 percent from the field. Meiklejohn led the Bears charge with two threes and a massive steal, while Queen's was propped up by 15 points from Gray who went a perfect 5/5 from beyond the arc.
“Not the game we hoped to be playing in, but the guys found a way to bring some energy today, and at the end of the day we just had some fun out there,” said fifth-year Bears captain Cole Knudsen. “We just enjoyed the last 40 minutes we had together as a group.”
Boxscore
Nike Top Performers
- Alberta Golden Bears: Brandon Meiklejohn
- Queen’s Gaels: Quinton Gray