Recapping Day One of the Men's U SPORTS Basketball Championships hosted at the University of British Columbia
- Jordan Frew
- Mar 14
- 5 min read
Final 8 Quarter-Finals Men’s - March 13, 2025
Basketball teams from all across Canada are gathering at the University of British Columbia (UBC) for the Men and Women’s for Final 8 tournament. This tournament started March 13, 2025 and the gold medal game will be played on March 16, 2025.
March 13 sees all eight teams in the men and women’s category playing in the quarter-finals. For the men, all their semi-finals are played on the 14 and their consolation final is played on the 15. On the 16, both men and women will play their bronze and gold medal games and by the end of the day, each will have crowned a champion.
Quarter Final #1
Bishop’s Gaiters came out strong putting the Victoria Vikes down by a score of 18-4 in the first quarter, but before the quarter was over, the Vikes had started to come back. The first quarter had the Vikes slowly picking away at the lead with a finishing score of the Gaiters leading 26-22.
With five minutes left in the second quarter, the Vikes had officially come back to tie it with a score of 33-33. By the time half was reached, the Vikes, who are undefeated in their confrence were up 48-38.
The third quarter saw the Vikes start to pull ahead of the Gaiters turning their 10 point lead into a 12 point lead with a score of 68-56.
With time running out in the fourth quarter, the Gaiters worked hard to try to come back, but ultimately they could not do it. The Vikes Sam Mailler and Renolodo Robinson each contributed 18 points in the 85-73 win over the Gaiters.
The Victoria Vikes have won and advance to the semi-finals where they will face the Ottawa Gee-Gees.
Quarter Final #2
The #8 Concordia Stingers against the #1 Ottawa Gee-Gees had a late start to their game due to the one before their’s going into Overtime (OT).
Despite the delay of the start, the Gee-Gees were ready to go. They drew first blood on a freethrow by Jacques-Melanie Guemeta. They built on this, finishing the quarter with a 15-8 lead.
In the second quarter, the Gee-Gees did not let up. They scored a total of 23 points in this quarter, whereas, the Stingers only scored 14. Coming back from half-time, the Stingers had a lot of work to do being down 38-22.
The Stingers came out swinging in the third quarter. They came out ready to work their way back into the game scoring 29 points and with 32 seconds left in the quarter they tied it. And before the quarter was over the Stingers were up 51-50.
The Stingers may have gotten 29 points in the third quarter but the Gee-Gees came right back and got 29 themselves in the fourth quarter. With the Stingers only getting 18 in the fourth quarter the Gee-Gees were able to take the lead and the win with a score of 79-69.
The Ottawa Gee-Gees have won and advance to the semi-finals where they will face the Victoria Vikes.
Quarter Final #3
In the first quarter the Dinos took the lead first, but the Gaels stuck right with them, not letting the Dinos run away with the game. The score was close with the Gael even having the lead for a moment before the Dinos took it back. The score at the end of the first quarter was 31-25 in favour of the Dinos.
Both teams held strong in their positions giving points back and forth. Eventually, the Gaels took charge and closed the gap between them and the Dinos and going into the half the Gaels were only down by two at a score of 57-55.
Quickly in the third quarter the Gaels tied the score and the Dinos could now feel the heat on them, and they responded. They took off and scored 15 unanswered points. But the Gaels would not roll over so easily. They slowly started to knock away and the Dinos lead and by the end of the third quarter, the score was 78-71 and the Dinos only had a lead of seven.
The teams kept exchanging points before the Dinos started to steadily increase their lead. The Dinos increased the deficit by four taking their lead up by 11. The final score of the game was 109-98.
The Calgary Dinos have won and advance to the semi-finals where they will face the PEI Panthers.
Quarter Final #4
Day one of the Final 8 is coming to an end, and #6 Prince Edward Island Panthers and #3 UBC Thunderbirds are set to close the courts for the night.
The Panthers came out with a powerful start, getting a nine point lead over the Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds had no problem getting back in the game, and at the end of the first, the score was tied 20-20.
The Panthers quickly overtook the Thunderbirds in the second quarter. They made their presence known throughout the court scoring an impressive 27 points compared to the Thunderbirds 13. The final score at the end of the second ended up being 47-33.
Knowing the goal is to win, the Panthers went into the third quarter and scored 16 points and held the Thunderbirds to only 4 points. The score at the end of the third was 63-37. The Panthers had earned a lead 26 points giving the Thunderbirds quite a challenging heading into the fourth quarter.
Knowing a trip to the semi-finals was at stake and the mountain they had to overcome to get there, The Thunderbirds immediately went to work, managing to get the Panthers lead down from 26 points all the way to 11. Despite the Thunderbirds scoring 35 points in the fourth quarter, the Panthers scored almost as much as them, leading to the Panthers winning this game 90-72.
The PEI Panthers have won and advance to the semi-finals where they will face the Calgary Dinos.
Looking Ahead to Tomorrow:
With day one of the Final 8 tournament wrapped, here’s what tomorrow has in store for men’s basketball.
The final line-up for March 14, 2025 Men’s Basketball:
Consolation Game: Concordia VS Bishop’s at 11:00am PST
Consolation Game: Queen’s VS UBC at 1:00pm PST
Championship Semi-Final: Victoria VS Ottawa at 6:00pm PST
Championship Semi-Final: PEI VS Calgary at 8:00pm PST
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