Blazers box out Pilots in MCAC basketball championships
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The Canadian Mennonite University Blazers capped off a dominant regular season with a pair of provincial championships, defeating the Providence Pilots in the women’s and men’s basketball Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference finals Feb. 27/28.
Both Manitoba championships were re-matches of the Northern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (NIAC) finals, which were hosted at Free Lutheran Bible College in Plymouth, Minn.
The Pilots managed a massive upset over Trinity Bible College in the semi-final of that tournament, before taking out CMU in the finals by just a single point.
It was clear the Blazers were out for revenge in the Manitoba final, putting on an incredible display to cruise to victory. CMU doubled up the Pilots throughout the match, dominating in both ends of the court en route to a 80-36 victory inside their home gym.
The Blazers got scoring from across their line-up, with seven players scoring at least seven points. The game’s most-valuable player award went to Mekhi Lisan, who led the team in points with 13, despite coming in off the bench.
The Pilots women’s basketball team had a great chance to get a measure of revenge of their own following a 71-58 loss to CMU in the NIAC finals earlier this week.
Providence had a 69-60 lead mid-way through the fourth quarter, before a scoring outburst from conference player of the year Briana Ehrmantraut led a comeback for the Blazers. The guard knocked down two long triples to score six of her game-high 30 points, leading 10-0 scoring run to flip the game in favour of CMU.
A serious medical incident happened after the game, with a Pilots player collapsing and needing emergency care on the court before being taken to the hospital. She was still recovering in Manitoba, with the Providence team travelling to the states to take part in a National Christian Colleges Athletic Association regional qualifier.
The NIAC semi-finals were nearly an all-Manitoban affair, with MCAC bottom-feeders St Boniface battling their way to the final four.
The Pilots season isn’t over yet, as they’re in the States this weekend to play in a National Christian Colleges Athletic Association national qualifier.