Quebec City, QC – If this season has been a Cinderella run, then it’s not quite midnight for the Queen’s Gaels.
The Queen’s Gaels’ program had not done two things heading into 2023-2024, they had not won a Wilson Cup since 1957, and they had never played in a national final.
It’s well known now that they accomplished the first goal a week ago, with Cole Syllas’ walk-off buzzer beater taking down the Brock Badgers and giving Queen’s the Wilson Cup.
Thanks to their 84-77 win over the Ottawa Gee-Gees in the national semifinal, they accomplished the second and to use a cheesy analogy
Until 2008, the Gaels were known as the “Golden Gaels.” They are officially one win away from the ultimate golden season.
Queen’s and Ottawa have played each other a lot this season and, unsurprisingly, played each other tight every time. The Gaels won both matchups, 96-95 at the start of January and 89-88 in overtime in February.
That style carried over when the ball tipped off just after 6 p.m. on Saturday night, as neither team could find separation. Cameron Bett led the Gaels with seven points off the bench, but the Gaels held just a slim 20-19 lead after 10 minutes.
Looking at the back-and-forth nature of his team’s quarterfinal win over the Winnipeg Wesmen, Queen’s head coach Stephan Barrie pointed out post-game on Friday that “it’s a game of runs,” which was never more obvious than the second quarter.
The Gee-Gees opened the quarter flying, scoring back-to-back triples on an 11-3 run in the first four minutes to take a 30-23 lead. However, buoyed by 15 points from Cole Syllas in four minutes, the Gaels dropped a 26-5 run on the Gee-Gees to enter the half up 49-35.
After already seeing the back-and-forth of last night, the back-and-forth nature of the game was not surprising for Queen’s
“It’s the game,” Queen’s head coach Stephan Barrie said. “The game is played by humans who have faults, they have flaws, they have inconsistencies, so you have to try and manage those people through those moments,
“We’re not coaching robots, so it’s part of basketball.”
In the second half, the Gee-Gees came about as close as they could get without tying the game. Outscoring Queen’s 21-13 in the quarter, the Gee-Gees cut the lead to two points on at least three occasions but couldn’t find that last shot as the Gaels stretched out their lead to 67-56
“Ottawa, they’re a great team,” Barrie said. “They’re not just gonna sit down and go, okay, you guys do what you want.”.
Into the fourth quarter, the Gaels finally started to separate, as the Gee-Gees struggled to get the lead under ten points. When Luka Syllas hit a pair of free throws to make it 82-72 with 40 seconds left, uOttawa knew that was it.
The Queen’s Gaels have already made history this season, and they added to it by punching their ticket to the national final for the first time, but their coach is not looking at the moment as anything more than the next game.
“I have no idea what that means,it’s something,” Barrie said. “I’m sure it’s something I’ll think about on March break next week when I’m sitting at home with my kids enjoying myself.”
“All that matters is who we’re playing, preparing, doing the things in our routines, and going out and enjoying the moment.”