A Thrilling Golden Finish

By Eric Thompson

The hometown crowd in New Westminster thought it was over.

Douglas College Royals star guard Courtney Anderson had just hit a picture-perfect jump shot to go ahead by 2 points with 1.2 seconds left on the game clock. In their minds, they were champions.

There were 1.2 seconds left on the game clock.

The inbounds pass was a perfect lob to Tyus Barfoot. He tied the game at 72 and sent the 2018-19 PACWEST Men’s Basketball final to overtime, where the VIU Mariners would eke out an 89-82 win punctuated by a Jerod Dorby slam dunk and take home their fourth PACWEST gold in five years in a game that became an instant classic.

The Royals rode the energy of the crowd in the first quarter, hanging tough with the top-seeded Mariners and ending the quarter with a one-point advantage thanks to an EJ Christie and-1 layup. But many of the Royals’ primary shooters struggled in the first half, with Courtney Anderson going 3-10 from the field and Josiah Mastandrea scoring just once from the field on 5 attempts. Both teams struggled from 3, but the Royals got the worse end of the situation making just 2 three-pointers in the opening half.

Tyrone Asenoguan was the best player on the court for Douglas in the half, shooting 50% from the field and racking up 3 assists. Landon Radliff was huge for the Mariners in the opening 20, putting up 16 points and 7 rebounds, including a 3 in the final minute of the quarter as the Mariners took a six-point lead into halftime.

VIU maintained their advantage over the Royals for most of the third quarter, but down five with 3 minutes to play the Royals went to work as Dylan Kinley and Josiah Mastandrea made quick layups. Mastandrea added a free through and the Royals and Mariners headed into the fourth quarter tied at 50.

The Mariners opened the fourth quarter on a 5-0 run after Cameron Gay was fouled shooting a 3 and sank all three free throws. The Royals took the lead briefly 7 minutes into the quarter on a Courtney Anderson jumper, but the Mariners led for almost the entire quarter. Anderson tied the game at 70 with another jump shot, and with 1.2 seconds remaining, hit the shot of a lifetime to go ahead 72-70. But a perfect alley-oop lob tied the game at 72 and regulation expired without a winner.

VIU dominated the overtime period. Tournament MVP Landon Radliff scored 7 points as the Mariners completely overwhelmed the Royals offensively in the five-minute overtime period. VIU scored 17 points to the Royals’ 10 in OT and won the 2018-19 Men’s Basketball championship.

Players of the game were Tyrone Asenoguan of Douglas and Landon Radliff of VIU. Asenoguan had 20 points and 12 rebounds off the bench, while Radliff put up an unbelievable 37 points, along with 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals.

The Tournament All-Stars announced after the game were Dallas Hancox of Camosun, Brenden Bailey of Capilano, Dylan Kinley and Courtney Anderson of Douglas, and Tyus Barfoot of VIU. Landon Radliff of the Mariners was named tournament MVP.