The post-game pizza tasted that much better for Gabe Vig and the Briercrest Clippers after their dramatic overtime victory over the Lakeland Rustlers in season-opening ACAC men’s basketball action Friday night on the Lloydminster campus.
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Vig’s heroics lifted the reigning champion Clippers to a 95-92 win over a persistent Rustlers squad that had fought back late in regulation and came within a whisker of victory.
Lakeland led 92-89 in the dying seconds of overtime, just as Vig and company went to work. He made good on three free throws with 10.8 seconds remaining in extra time and stood tall again when he sank a game-winning three-point shot at the buzzer.
“When I took it, it looked a little bit to the right,” said Vig, replaying his decisive shot from the left corner. “I was kind of thinking, ‘Ohhh,’ but then it went in, and I started celebrating with the guys.
“The shot wouldn’t have been possible if No. 5, Corbin (Gengenbach), didn’t make that beautiful pass.”
The marathon battle didn’t end until near 10:30 p.m., as Vig lived up to the No. 1 on the back of his jersey.
“I can’t say I really had a buzzer-beater (before),” said the 20-year-old Vig, an Abbotsford, B.C., native in his first year at Briercrest after playing Canadian university basketball with the Trinity Western Mustangs of Langley, B.C.
“I’ve had shots that are kind of clutch at the end of a game, but never one that goes in as time expires. It feels pretty good, totally.”
Vig, who finished the night with 17 points, set the stage for the Briercrest comeback with his string of clutch free-throw shots.
“It’s Friday night and the Lakeland crowd is always a tough one,” he said. “I like it when fans get involved, to a certain extent. For the most part, it’s fun. I like the banter.
“I just tried to stay calm and trust the work. I’ve taken a lot of free throws in my life — backyard and rec centre. Me and my mom would go to the YMCA and just get free throws up, get shots up.”
Things are looking up for Vig as he transitions to the ACAC after his U Sports stint with Trinity Western.
“A lot of things went into it,” he said of moving to Briercrest’s Caronport, Sask., campus. “I think I just wanted a change of scenery. I wanted to play a little bit more — to play a little bit more free — and I think I’m getting that here.”
As they bused out of Lloydminster after 11 p.m. Friday, the Clippers continued their longest road trip of the ACAC season with a stopover in Lac La Biche that night before playing in Fort McMurray on Saturday night against the Keyano Huskies.
“I know that we’re a team that’s going to battle every game,” Vig said of his Clippers. “Whatever place we’re seeded in the playoffs, or however the season goes, every game, we’re going to battle and we’re going to compete.”
Six Briercrest players hit double digits in Friday’s victory, including Carter Waind’s 22 points.
The Clippers dropped a 104-87 decision to Keyano on Saturday.
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