EDMONTON – The host Alberta Golden Bears rode a 30-point fourth quarter to a U SPORTS Bronze Medal with an 95-84 victory over the Queen's Gaels Sunday afternoon at the Saville Centre.

The win cements the best national finish for Alberta since the 2013-14 campaign in which they also won the bronze medal. Brandon Meiklejohn led the Bears with 19 points, and was supported by third-year forward Adam Paige who recorded 17 points and 11 rebounds, and guard Geoffrey James who sunk five threes.

"We will finish the season with a good taste in our mouth after today. We have a character in our group, and the guys played hard," said Bears head coach Barnaby Craddock. "Really impressed with that Queen's program, they are doing a great job over there. It was a great game with those guys today, and put on a good show for the crowd."

The Gaels were led by another phenomenal performance from Quinton Gray, who dropped a tournament-high 38 points on an eye-blistering 8/11 mark from three. He also went 6/7 from the line and added three rebounds and four assists.

Alberta found its depth scoring in the first, with seven Bears recording points in the frame including a quarter-high eight from forward Abdullah Shittu. They led by eleven going into the second, where the defensive intensity picked up as both teams combined to shoot just 20.5% from the field. A 13-0 Gaels run late in the quarter, led by Gray, would send the Bears into halftime with a slim 41-39 lead.

It was a spirited second half, starting with a dominant Gaels offence that led the third with a 13-5 run that gave them their first real lead of the game. Lars Ishimwe, the third-year Bears guard, would then score eight straight Alberta points to give them a 65-61 lead going into the fourth.

"Not the game we hoped to be playing in, but the guys fiund a way to bring some energy today, and at the end of the day we just had some fun out there," said fifth-year Bears captain Cole Knudsen. "We just enjoyed the last 40 minutes we had together as a group."

Alberta found its shooting form in a fourth quarter in which they sunk six threes and shot over fifty percent from the field. Meiklejohn led the Bears charge with two threes and massive steal, while Queens was propped up by 15 points from Gray who went a perfect 5/5 from beyond the arc.

Nike Top Performers
Alberta Golden Bears: Brandon Meiklejohn
Queen's Gaels: Quinton Gray