Quebec City, QC – In the game with the lowest stakes, the UQAM Citadins still managed to send a message to finish their Final 8 for 2024.
The fifth-place game is emotionally complicated. On the one hand, you are playing a “championship day game” with no chance of a medal, but on the other hand, you can be one of only three teams to finish this tournament (and subsequently their season) with a win.
After their win over the Winnipeg Wesmen in the consolation semifinal, the Citadins entered the final day of the 2024 Men’s Final 8 with a simple goal to finish on a high.
With their 80-70 win over the Victoria Vikes, the Citadins earned a fifth-place finish for the second consecutive season. Although they didn’t end up with a medal, they can head back to Montréal, able to say they made their statement that “we can play and we’re still a top team in the country.”
Coming off the final semifinal game on Saturday night with a pulsating crowd of over 3000, it was a much more sparsely attended game to open championship Sunday. That came in part to the snowstorm that battered Quebec City for most of Sunday morning but put the number of people in seats for the fifth-place game at maybe 200.
Those who were there were loud, though, including charmingly a row of three kids positioned about six rows up on the west endzone, surrounded by empty seats, earnestly banging the life out of their thundersticks on every single play.
Once the action got going on the floor, though, the Victoria Vikes started on the front foot.
Diego Maffia’s 13 points in the first quarter helped push the Vikes to a 25-17 lead. After a 26-point showing in the consolation semifinal, the 2024 U SPORTS Player of the Year finished his 2024 season with a 24 point showing.
However, once the second quarter began, the tide shifted thanks to the Citadins firing away from deep. Going 4/7 from three in the second quarter, the Citadins found themselves in the lead 43-39 heading into halftime.
Elie Karojo led the Citadins, scoring 12 points in the first half and 21 points overall. It was a standpoint performance if a little late after scoring 14 points combined in his first two games.
“His [Karojo’s] game was big,” Citadins coach Mario Joseph said. “I think we needed him when we played Ottawa. I think he played the worst game he had all season long.”
“We weren’t too sure that he had character to come back and still produce, but that’s what he did.”
When the second half began, the Vikes, the top seed in the tournament and clearly crestfallen not to be playing for a medal, looked about ready to hop on the plane back west. An Aaron Tesfagiorgis three cut the game to 48-45 with six minutes to play but a 15-4 UQAM run to close the quarter put the Citadins up 14 heading into the final 10 minutes.
Maffia put up a pair of threes in the fourth quarter, but the Vikes couldn’t find the muster to get anything closer than a ten-point differential.
The Citadins leave the Final 8 without a medal for the second consecutive season, but they also finish 2024 as RSEQ champions. So it’s a complicated feeling for Mario Joseph, knowing a win is a win but knowing you only get so many chances to play in the national championship in a given era.
“You’re always happy when you win your province, but the end goal is always to win nationals,” Joseph said.
“You’ve got to make the most of the opportunity because you don’t know if you’re coming back next year.”