It was clear from the opening tip that the Université de Saint-Boniface Les Rouges weren't content with just making their first MCAC men's basketball final.
They were in it to win it all. Les Rouges led wire-to-wire on Sunday, defeating the undefeated Canadian Mennonite University Blazers 79-64 to claim the league championship at CMU on Sunday.
"Today was super special. Every time we kept playing this team, we kept progressing," said championship MVP Tristan Gibbons. "This was the first year we changed the culture a lot. We weren't good, we were at the bottom, but this year we all committed as a team. I love my teammates, I love my coaches, this is a great start."
Les Rouges led 24-17 after the first quarter and extended their lead to 45-33 at halftime. As CMU started chipping away, Kian Laurel hit a huge buzzer-beater from three-point range to make it 63-47 for USB heading to the last quarter.
To bring it home, Gibbons dominated on the boards, going for 21 points and 18 rebounds while all-conference guard Lebron Sarmiento netted 14 points for Les Rouges. Daniel Cameron led CMU with 17 points and 16 rebounds.
"The key was to be physical, not let them get easy points, and play smart with conviction on offence," Gibbons said.
"We kept playing our game, kept playing physical, kept playing defence. We were never going to lose that game."
Source: https://mcacathletics.ca/sports/mbkb/2025-26/releases/20260215yk06p2