Trojans silence Thunder, move on to ACAC semifinal

CAMROSE, ALTA., (March 5, 2020) - The SAIT Trojans are moving on.

Playing in a rematch of last year's Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Men's Basketball Championship final, the SAIT Trojans used a stifling defence to beat the Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder 90-76 in their quarter-final match Thursday afternoon at the host University of Alberta-Augustana in Camrose, Alta.

"What you try to do through the season is find an identity and what you're good at. And we found down the stretch that we can get after it and we can guard, and that fuels everything we do," said Trojans head coach Marty Birky, whose team also beat the Thunder in last season's gold medal game, 95-84. "That was our focus this week, and the guys did a great job."

SAIT strolled into the three-day tournament as the three-time defending champions. With Friday's 6pm semifinal now awaiting them, Birky and his team are well-aware of the bull's-eye his team have taped to the back of their jerseys.

"We have a lot of experience, be it on our coaching staff or players who have won it before," he continued. "We have the talent to do it, but it's not always the most talented team that wins it. There are certain things you have to key on, and you have to control what you can. I felt we did that well today."

If the Trojans become successful in their bid for a fourth-straight ACAC title, it would be the first time an ACAC men's basketball team has won four in a row since, well would you look at that, SAIT won seven consecutive banners from 1981-87.

After falling down 5-2 just under 90 seconds into the opening quarter, SAIT spent the next four minutes going on a 20-0 run to take control of the game. The Thunder were able to stop the bleeding and fought their way back to trailing by 10 by the end of the quarter.

Calvin Chambers (4th year, Memphis, Tenn,. Business Administration) led the Trojans in the first 10 minutes of play with 11 points. He finished with a game-high 25 points to go along with six rebounds and five assists.

"The 1 o'clock start was a little different than what we're used to, but our guys are gamers and they got up for it," Birky explained. "As a coach, you're worried about how your team is going to start a game, but we were preaching high energy and aggressiveness, and they didn't let us down."

In the second quarter, the Trojans started slow but finished red hot. At the 5:20 mark, Concordia had cut the lead to seven points, 33-26, but SAIT went on yet another lengthy run, scoring the game's next 12 points to extend their lead to 19.

By the time halftime rolled around, SAIT held a commanding 52-32 lead over a Thunder team that averaged nearly 85 points per game during the regular season.

In the second half, Concordia was able to put together a few runs to cut into the Trojans lead, and whittled it down to as little as 11 in the fourth, but Birky used his timeouts wisely, putting an end to any momentum before it became something his team could not overcome.

Charlie Conner (3rd year, Lacey, Wash., Business Administration) scored nine of his 22 points in the final quarter of play - including two three-pointers that helped put the game out of reach. He added eight rebounds as well.

"Concordia is a good team, they shoot the ball extremely well, and they have one of the best coaches in the league (Regan Wood)," stated Birky. "We always have that 'four points in a row, or six points in a row, I'm using one' in the back pocket. My assistant coaches did a good job of watching certain themes and keys for when we needed to kill their momentum."

Offensively, SAIT had all five of their starters reach double digits in points. 

On top of the performances from Chambers and Conner, Camille Kamba (3rd year, Calgary, Business Administration) recorded 14 points and nine rebounds, Taliik Ross (3rd year, Orange Park, Fla., Business Administration) chipped in with 10 points and nine rebounds and Gemie Muya (2nd year, Toronto, Ont., Office Professional) added 14 points and six rebounds.

"We've never been a team that relies on one player," Birky said. "We have multiple guys who can have big games and I think we're better when we spread it out."