FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. - The Mohawk Mountaineers led for a large part of the game, but lost 85-84 to the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology Ooks of Edmonton in their opener of the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Men's Basketball National Championship at Keyano College in Fort McMurray, Alta. on Thursday.

NAIT, which trailed by 11 points in both the second and third quarters, whittled away at the deficit and trailed by only one point, 69-68, at three quarter time. The Ooks took the lead with just less than 7:30 remaining in the game and both teams battled hard until the end. Jackson Jacob's free throw with 12.4 seconds remaining turned out to be the winning point. The Mountaineers had time to take the final shot but it failed to materialize.

Mohawk head coach Brian Jonker said that would be one of the tougher losses in his 11 years at Mohawk. "I am real proud of our effort through adversity but we came up just short," said Jonker. "It was real tough afterwards realizing we were so close to playing in another Final Four.

Adrian Curtis led NAIT with 22 points. Jacob had 18 and Troy Barnes pulled down 14 rebounds.

Mohawk Player of the Game Jeff Hunt had 18 points, 12 of them from outside the three point arc, where he was 4-of-8. Hunt also had four blocked shots. Ryan Doornick scored 15 points and OJ Watson contributed 14.

With the win, NAIT advances to the semi-finals. Coach Jonker said the Mountaineers will try to regroup and hope they can claw their way back for a bronze medal come Saturday.

The next action for the Mohawk will be Friday at 4 p.m. ET against the host Keyano Huskies, who bowed to the Vancouver Island University Mariners of Nanaimo, 90-77.

In other results from Day 1, defending champion Humber, from Etobicoke, Ont., beat Camosun of Victoria 83-51 and Holland College, from Charlottetown, downed Montmorency of Laval, Que., 95-78.

Source: Mohawk College