Desi Collinson and Duane Alsop led the Skidegate Saints Senior men's team to an 87-76 victory over the Ahousat Suns Saturday night in the 2015 ANBT final. The Suns got out to a commanding 20-point lead before the Saints woke up and had a dominant second half to pace them to the championship.
Meanwhile, the Saints' Intermediate counterparts, led by Jesse Barnes and Joel Richardson were upstart in the most competitive finals game all day by the Metlakatla, AK boys. Erik Hudson, Moses Nix and Todd Yliniemi stole the show for the Alaskan visitors as they defeated Skidegate 79-74.
The Bella Bella Women's All Native squad and the Hydaburg Masters took some hardware home this year after winning their respective finals Saturday afternoon at the All Native Basketball Tournament in Prince Rupert.
After a tightly-fought first half between Bella Bella and Kitamaat, Shayla Schooner and Jasmine Reid drove the play in an electrifying second half with support from Yvonne Campbell and a cast of teammates that gave the squad their first All Native win in over three decades. Bella Bella took the game 71-59 and Reid was named Player of the Game.
The Hydaburg Masters, led by ANBT Hall of Fame inductee Sid Edenshaw and fellow teammates Matt Carle and Joe Young, got out to an astounding 20-point lead in the first quarter only to have the Old Masset boys adjust the game plan and pull within six points just a few minutes later. Hydaburg fended off the comeback with a strong fourth quarter that rarely had the team missing any of their looks. The squad won 90-68.
Full coverage of the tournament can be found in Wednesday's edition of the Northern View.