For about 35 minutes on Aug. 10, there was genuine excitement in the air at the Canada Basketball Boys 15U Nationals in Kamloops, B.C.
Team NWT was leading Prince Edward Island in their final game and were playing some inspiring basketball.
They just weren't able to close the deal down the stretch.
P.E.I. went on to win, 66-55 thanks to two late three-pointers, the second of which was the dagger, according to head coach Matt Craig.
“They hit two big threes down the stretch and that broke us,” he said. “We just had some letdowns on defence and gave them some open shots.”
The boys were forced to foul in order to keep the clock stopped but Craig ceased employing that tactic with 30 seconds remaining.
This was the closest any NWT team had ever come to winning a game against a province at a full national championship, said Craig. The NWT has beaten Yukon and Nunavut before but the closest any NWT team came to beating a province came at the 2011 Western Canadian 17U Championships when Saskatchewan beat the boys by just three points.
This year's boys team led at halftime and after the third quarter but Craig said it was a combination of things that led to the eventual defeat.
“We had a great start to the game,” he said. “I was planning to limit the starters and play a tight bench but we ended up using everyone against Newfoundland and Labrador in the game before so that took away from the second game. We just couldn't contain them and we couldn't hold them off.”
There was no panic among the boys, he added, they just ran out of steam.
“The shots weren't going in like they were before,” he said.
Craig chalked it up to one that got away and the boys knew that after the game.
“They knew it was doable,” he said. “If we had the chance to go down south and and play some games or play in a tournament outside of Yellowknife, they could have learned how to win but we were realistic about our chances. We knew we wouldn't beat the bigger provinces but beating P.E.I. was our goal and we all felt we could have done it.”
The 15U girls, meanwhile, were in Fredericton for their national championship and, just like the boys, they weren't able to find the win column.
Cole Marshall, the team's head coach, said this was a learning experience for the girls and a way to build for the future.
“All but one could be coming back for next year,” he said. “We were missing two of our potential starting five players but everyone knows what they need to do in order to be in shape for next time.”
The girls also finished up against P.E.I. although the game wasn't as close as the boys had been.
Marshall said the girls played on some tired legs.
“The schedule we had hurt us,” he said. “Mali Straker had a bad groin and the girls were nursing some bumps and bruises but we were only down by six at halftime. They just pulled away on us.”
Marshall's game plan going in was simple – not giving the girls any sort of false hope that they could be giant-killers and learn about what it takes to play basketball outside of the North.
“They needed to see that it's such a different brand of basketball,” he said. “They've played at a high level before with the Arctic Winter Games but this is a gigantic step-up from that. The girls understood that everyone they played would be taller and a bit more athletic and they were great about it. There were some tears but that was just from getting beat up physically out on the court and not from losing.”
Each team had some standout players, such as Kevin Santos and Jordan Balsillie from the boys team who were both in the top-five in terms of three-point percentage and Mali Straker in the top-five among defensive rebounds on the girls side.
Marshall said the most impressive part about Straker's stats is that she's a point guard.