The Mariners say it was a magical run to a championship, but looking back, they made their own magic.
Vancouver Island University’s men’s basketball team is still celebrating after winning a national championship on Saturday in the Fraser Valley. The Mariners beat the Sheridan Bruins 85-82 at the Langley Events Centre to claim the program’s first national title since 2013.
“It felt amazing,” said Matt Kuzminski, VIU coach. “This team was as close as any team I’ve ever seen, including the 2013 team and the group of guys and how they gave themselves up to each other and were willing to fight together for the whole time, it’s amazing.”
By the time they reached Saturday’s gold-medal game, the Mariners were battle-tested. The M’s had pulled off a miracle to force overtime and eventually win the PacWest championship earlier in the month, and then came back from 14 points down in the CCAA semifinals to win and advance.
So during warmups Saturday, seeing a more physically imposing, athletic Bruins team at the other end of the court didn’t faze the M’s.
“I felt that we would have to weather the storm and keep chipping away together and that we’d be right in there. So I did feel good about it,” Kuzminski said. “I knew it was going to be tough, but the never-give-up attitude that our guys have is as special as anything I’ve been around.”
The final was close at the end, but the Mariners remained “calm, confident and stayed in the moment” said the coach, guys drained their free throws and they got to realize the perfect finish to 2018-19 that they always knew was achievable.
“We set out a goal at the start of the year to win the national championship at the LEC in front of our family and friends, but it was like, this is our vision, we’re not going to focus on this, we’re going to focus on what we need to do every single day to make this happen,” Kuzminski said.
story continues below
VIU Mariners men’s team takes 2019 national basketball title https://t.co/vsxZ6ONkWS
— Nanaimo Bulletin (@NanaimoBulletin) March 17, 2019
RELATED: VIU Mariners men’s team takes 2019 national basketball title
Fifth-year post player Jerod Dorby moves on from the program, but the majority of the Mariners are eligible to return in 2019-20. Kuzminski noted that the Mariners were able to win back the CCAA wild card for B.C., so the path to another national tournament becomes a little bit easier.
“I would hope the players who experienced this want more of this feeling,” he said, “and know how powerful the experience is, to go through a whole process where you invest so much and you’re able to see the result.”
VIU coach: "The group of guys and how they gave themselves up to each other and were willing to fight together for the whole time, it’s amazing.” https://t.co/IDOKBk9hXh 📷CCAAphoto pic.twitter.com/IBaf1iyHru
— Greg Sakaki (@BulletinSports) March 18, 2019
editor@nanaimobulletin.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter