The George Brown Huskies held off a late game dramatics from the Capilano Blues, taking a hard-fought 120-113 decision in overtime to advance to the semi-finals of the CCAA Men's Basketball National Championship, the second matchup to require extra time in the tournament's opening day.
Huskies player of the game Jeremiah Brown led all scorers with 31 points off the bench to go with seven rebounds, while Derrick Taylor added 22 points and eight rebounds, and Caldre Campbell chipped in with 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists off the bench.
For the Blues, Josh Dhillon led the way with 24 points, including a buzzer-beating three to force overtime, which he paired with six assists and four rebounds. Blues player of the game Zach Klim added 23 points and four rebounds, while CCAA All-Canadian Tyrone Asenoguan contributed 16 points and six rebounds.
Capilano ended the opening quarter up 24-23.
Capilano again got off to a quick start in the second quarter, extending its lead to eight early on. However, it wasn't long before the Huskies seized momentum, tightening up defensively and capitalizing on Blues turnovers to take a 53-49 lead into halftime.
The third quarter was evenly matched, with the Blues getting even at 62-62 early in the frame. The Huskies responded by pushing out their lead to seven with 4:25 to go, only for Capilano to again come back to head to the fourth quarter deadlocked at 81-81, setting the stage for a dramatic fourth.
Neither team could get a true edge over the other for the opening half of the quarter, though George Brown eventually found some footing to go up 102-96 with 2:28 remaining. However, the Blues fought back to force overtime.
The Huskies got the upper hand early in the extra session, though, as they used an early 6-0 run to set the tempo for the rest of overtime as they would not relinquish the lead afterward.
George Brown will battle the home team, the Sait Trojans, for a spot in the Championship game on the line. With the victory, it would mark the first time since 1976 that the Huskies made the final on the national stage. All the action begins 10pm Toronto time (8pm Calgary time).
