UPEI men's basketball team in the hunt for 1st-ever medal at U Sports Hoops championships

The University of Prince Edward Island men's basketball team has made it to the semifinals in the U Sports championships in Vancouver after beating the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.

The score in the Thursday night matchup was 90-72, an upset given UPEI was seeded sixth in the tourament and hometown UBC was third. 

The men's Panthers play their next game against the University of Calgary Dinos on Friday night, starting at midnight AT. 

"We were all ecstatic about the win for maybe about 10 minutes, but then we had to shift our focus to the semifinal game tonight," Kamari Scott, the Panthers' captain and combo guard, told CBC News on Friday. 

"We're not satisfied. We came to B.C. on a business trip, and our goal is to get a championship." 

The Thursday night win set up the Panthers for one of two possible medal matchups on Sunday. Whether it's bronze or gold, a national-competition medal would be the first for the UPEI men's basketball team. 

The team is "looking to go out with a bang," Scott said. "I know there's lots more left in the tank." 

He said the support the team has been receiving from Islanders "means the whole world," adding: "It brings me goosebumps just talking about it, thinking about how many supporters we have back home." 

Committed fans

Tonight's game against the Dinos will take place in prime time on the West Coast, just as the Thursday night matchup did. That means for Islanders tuning in, tip-off is around midnight AT with the final buzzer going off around 3 a.m. 

But dedicated fan Bob Gray said staying up to watch the team play is worth it. 

"I wouldn't be sleeping. No, no, you wouldn't be missing these," said Gray, who played for the first UPEI men's basketball team in 1969. 

Gray credits the team's stellar defending and hard work for its success, saying the team plays defence "like their hair is on fire... They held UBC to, like, 15 to 20 points below their average." 

UPEI earned the lead early in the game and held it until the end. Defensively, they had 16 steals and forced 22 turnovers.

I couldn't be prouder. It's just magic.— Bob Gray

"UPEI has a reputation as one of the great programs in the country because it does way more than people expect," Gray said. "We're always undersized, we're always under-resourced, we're always unexpected."

To see the team grow over the years and now represent the AUS against the top university basketball teams is a pleasure, said Gray: "I couldn't be prouder. It's just magic." 

Another big matchup

The Panthers will have to continue their strong defense Friday night when they face the Dinos, who scored 109 points in their first round matchup against Queen's University. That was the most in any game played so far this tournament.

The two other teams remaining in the U Sports Hoops finals are the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees and the University of Victoria Vikes.

The way the Panthers play and compete presents different challenges for different teams, said Darrell Glenn, the team's head coach. Getting through the "gauntlet" of the AUS conference and coming out on top has prepared the team well, he said. 

"We want to represent the conference, we want to represent our province, we want to represent our university well here, but I don't think we look at it as a pressure situation," Glenn said. "I think we're looking at it as an opportunity to do something special."

Back on P.E.I., Gray will be tuning in for the Panthers' game against the Dinos, calling it "a pleasure" to watch UPEI represent the Atlantic on the west coast.  

"I couldn't be prouder. It's just magic."