Friday evening at the All Native Basketball Tournament was the Jacob Thom show.
In by far the most entertaining game of the week, Thom’s dying-seconds overtime layup broke Similkameen hearts to advance the Kitkatla Warriors to Saturday’s semi-final against rival Skidegate.
Similkameen thought they finally had the game in the bag, holding a two-point lead with five seconds on the clock, but a controversial call gave Kitkatla the ball, with Thom somehow wriggling through three defenders to send the Kitkatla supporters into dreamland.
“I was just happy we got the basketball back, we did a hell of a job to get the ball back,” Thom, who tallied 41 points in the game, said.
“I just made a read, I watched what the defenders were doing… I curled to the corner, I caught the ball, I pump-faked, I soft-jumped in the air and as soon as that happened I knew I had to get to the rack.”
Similkameen’s dynamic offence began to purr in the second quarter, hitting 27 points in an offence largely led by guard Sterling Wilson. But they simply could not keep Thom quiet, with the 2022 MVP dropping 13 points in the third quarter to keep the Warriors in the game.
With a deep bench and a number of pinpoint shooters, Similkameen threatened to pull away numerous times, but kept getting pegged back by the Warriors and their clutch three-pointers.
Thom said the shots beyond the arc are the foundation of the Warriors and their success.
“We live and die by the three,” he said.
“When the threes are falling, we’re going to have success. When they’re not, you see us kind of fall behind.”
While Thom did much of the heavy lifting for the Warriors, Phillip Gamble was their go-to man in the fourth quarter, sinking 11 points in a period where Thom went a little cold.
The Warriors face the Skidegate Saints at 10 a.m. today in a rivalry that has seen each team win three of the last six Senior championships.