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Bison add another AIHEC title to legacy
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When all the chips were on the table the Bison were at their best.
The Salish Kootenai College Bison outlasted Northwest Indian College, who had beat them three times in the regular season, in a 109-103 epic championship battle at the American Indian Higher Education Consortium National Basketball Championship in Santa Fe, N.M.
It was the Bison’s second title in a row, fifth in six years and sixth total.
“It was pretty amazing. They came together at the right time. We take a lot of pride in peaking at the right time,” said SKC coach Zach Conko-Camel.
With all the championships under his belt, Conko-Camel has his team reaching peak condition at the right time to an exact science. But just a week prior to the 11-team, four-day tournament, you would have had no idea the Bison were peaking. SKC ended the season on a four-game losing streak, with their last loss at the hands of NWIC. But after a victory in a scrimmage against an alumni team full of past champions, Conko-Camel was confident that the Bison’s winning tradition would show up at the tournament.
“That’s why people come here. They want to be a part of the tradition. This was a mostly new group, so now they’re part of that tradition,” Conko-Camel said. “They’re already talking about next year,” he added.
In the back-and-forth game against NWIC, Conko-Camel said his team kept hitting the big shots to answer any NWIC run.
“It was a great championship game. We just seemed to hit the big shots whenever we needed them,” Conko-Camel said. “We just kept hanging in there, rolling the dice and staying tough. When it came down to the wire we knew nobody was more mentally tough than us.”
The Bison went 23-for-25 at the line in the game and drained 13 3-pointers. The Bison were deadly from outside the entire tournament.
“It must have been the altitude, but the ball just kept floating in,” Conko-Camel said explaining the Bison’s accurate 3-point shooting.
Former Mission Bulldog star Gus McDonald led the Bison balanced-scoring attack, which saw six players finish in double figures in scoring.
“We have a lot of weapons. We have a lot of shooters. Other teams just can’t focus on one player,” Conko-Camel said.
McDonald, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player, went 13-for-14 at the line, knocked down three 3-pointers and finished with 30 points.
Focusing more on getting his teammates involved through the first six games of the tournament, Bison point guard Dennis Sangrey drained five 3-pointers on his way to 27 points. James Bible and Pius Takes Horse each added 14 and Shawn Blount finished with a dozen points.
Sonny Eppinette, the lone returning Bison from last year’s championship team, finished with 10 points, which was less than his season average, but Conko-Camel said the center’s inside presence was key in the Bison’s victory. He said NWIC had to respect Eppinette down low, which opened up the Bison shooters and Eppinette did a great job of finding them.
After going 4-0 in pool play Thursday and Friday to earn the top seed in bracket play, the Bison cruised to a 107-58 rout of Fort Peck College in the quarterfinals Saturday. McDonald and Takes Horse led the Bison with 18 points apiece. Takes Horse connected on five 3-pointers. Eppinette added 16 points.
McDonald drained seven 3-pointers and finished with 30 points in the Bison’s 117-85 semifinal victory over Oglala Lakota College. Jason Enright added 14 and Takes Horse finished with 13.
Conko-Camel said the championship was sixth months in the making. When the Bison start the season their only goal is to win the championship and he couldn’t be more proud of his team of persevering.
“It’s the Bison way,” he said.
Summary,
American Indian Higher Education Consortium National Basketball Championships
Santa Fe, N.M., March 18-21
Pool Play
SKC 85, Oglala Lakota College 66
SKC 67, Northwest Indian College 66
SKC 82, Institute of American Indian Arts 39
SKC 107, Chief Dull Knife College 58
Quarterfinals
SKC 107, Fort Peck College 58
Semifinals
SKC 117, Oglala Lakota College 85
Championship
SKC 109, Northwest Indian College 103
