Team NT in historic basketball win over PEI

The NWT’s male basketball team defeated Prince Edward Island 81-78 at the Canada Games on Monday, a heartstopping victory that likely made history.

Team officials could not immediately recall another occasion on which the territory’s male basketball team had beaten a province at any edition of the Canada Games.

The win demonstrates the strength of basketball in the NWT, a year after the female team won Arctic Winter Games gold for the first time.

NWT male basketball head coach Mark Matheson is from PEI and played the sport to a high level on the island before moving north.

“That feels amazing, especially coming from Prince Edward Island,” Matheson said as jubilant players hugged each other around him.

“I used to play on that team. For the NWT to be able to take that win, that is huge. We loved every single second of it.”

Some of those seconds were pretty hard to bear for NWT fans. The game seesawed dramatically and Team NT had trailed 26-39 at half time.

There was no guarantee the territory would win until PEI missed a desperate bid for three points with the last act of the game.

“Those boys have some good composure. It’s a really good group, probably one of the strongest that I’ve ever seen in the NWT,” said Matheson.

Team manager Nick Jones said the win was significant for a territory that cannot draw on the resources or player pool of larger jurisdictions.

“It’s just credit to the boys. They work so hard every year and they worked so hard during training camp. We pushed them, they pushed back. They showed up today, and for the territory to win a U17 game is historic,” he said.

After half time, NWT supporters in the arena – including the female team and its coaching staff, plus parents and athletes from other sports who weren’t competing at the time – grew louder and louder.

By the fourth quarter, with an unlikely victory possibly at hand, the noise lifted the rafters every time Team NT scored or successfully repelled an attack.

In the last minute, the territory moved ahead and then survived through stop-start final moments to take the win.

“We’re always thought of as the easy game or the underdog, and then we come out with a game like this and show everybody we’re not,” said assistant coach Jose Esteban.

“When you hear that from behind you, it just fuels you and energizes the team,” Esteban said of the noise from fans around the NWT bench. “It just makes us want to win even more. Knowing we have all those supporters behind us makes it so much better.”

“This was our Super Bowl in my mind,” said Matheson.

“I thought we had a really good chance in this game. It came together perfectly, the boys played so hard and we’re so proud of them. It was awesome.”

The team, which lost against Newfoundland and Labrador on Sunday, continues pool play with a game against Manitoba on Tuesday.

Elsewhere on Monday, Orlee Duru won her women’s singles contest and picked up a doubles win alongside Anna Curran in a 4-2 mixed team tennis defeat to Newfoundland and Labrador.

Team NT’s male soccer players started with a 4-0 loss to Nova Scotia, while the women’s beach volleyball team posted its first win, 2-0 over Yukon.

Beach volleyball is now postponed as the venue is within an area considered threatened by a nearby wildfire.