UPEI men's basketball team in the hunt for 1st-ever medal at U Sports Hoops championships

The University of Prince Edward Island men's hoops squad has made it to the semifinals successful the U Sports championships successful Vancouver aft beating the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.

The people successful the Thursday nighttime matchup was 90-72, an upset fixed UPEI was seeded sixth successful the tourament and hometown UBC was third. 

The men's Panthers play their adjacent crippled against the University of Calgary Dinos connected Friday night, starting astatine midnight AT. 

"We were each ecstatic astir the triumph for possibly astir 10 minutes, but past we had to displacement our absorption to the semifinal crippled tonight," Kamari Scott, the Panthers' skipper and combo guard, told CBC News connected Friday. 

"We're not satisfied. We came to B.C. connected a concern trip, and our extremity is to get a championship." 

The Thursday nighttime triumph acceptable up the Panthers for 1 of 2 imaginable medal matchups connected Sunday. Whether it's bronze oregon gold, a national-competition medal would beryllium the archetypal for the UPEI men's hoops team. 

The squad is "looking to spell retired with a bang," Scott said. "I cognize there's tons much near successful the tank." 

He said the enactment the squad has been receiving from Islanders "means the full world," adding: "It brings maine goosebumps conscionable talking astir it, reasoning astir however galore supporters we person backmost home." 

Committed fans

Tonight's crippled against the Dinos volition instrumentality spot successful premier clip connected the West Coast, conscionable arsenic the Thursday nighttime matchup did. That means for Islanders tuning in, tip-off is astir midnight AT with the last buzzer going disconnected astir 3 a.m. 

But dedicated fan Bob Gray said staying up to ticker the squad play is worthy it. 

"I wouldn't beryllium sleeping. No, no, you wouldn't beryllium missing these," said Gray, who played for the archetypal UPEI men's hoops squad successful 1969. 

Gray credits the team's stellar defending and hard enactment for its success, saying the squad plays defence "like their hairsbreadth is connected fire... They held UBC to, like, 15 to 20 points beneath their average." 

UPEI earned the pb aboriginal successful the crippled and held it until the end. Defensively, they had 16 steals and forced 22 turnovers.

"UPEI has a estimation arsenic 1 of the large programs successful the state due to the fact that it does mode much than radical expect," Gray said. "We're ever undersized, we're ever under-resourced, we're ever unexpected."

To spot the squad turn implicit the years and present correspond the AUS against the apical assemblage hoops teams is simply a pleasure, said Gray: "I couldn't beryllium prouder. It's conscionable magic." 

Another large matchup

The Panthers volition person to proceed their beardown defence Friday nighttime erstwhile they look the Dinos, who scored 109 points successful their archetypal circular matchup against Queen's University. That was the astir successful immoderate crippled played truthful acold this tournament.

The 2 different teams remaining successful the U Sports Hoops finals are the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees and the University of Victoria Vikes.

The mode the Panthers play and vie presents antithetic challenges for antithetic teams, said Darrell Glenn, the team's caput coach. Getting done the "gauntlet" of the AUS league and coming retired connected apical has prepared the team well, helium said. 

"We privation to correspond the conference, we privation to correspond our province, we privation to correspond our assemblage good here, but I don't deliberation we look astatine it arsenic a unit situation," Glenn said. "I deliberation we're looking astatine it arsenic an accidental to bash thing special."

Back connected P.E.I., Gray volition be tuning successful for the Panthers' crippled against the Dinos, calling it "a pleasure" to ticker UPEI correspond the Atlantic connected the westbound coast.  

"I couldn't beryllium prouder. It's conscionable magic."