Eagles fly past Broncos at the buzzer

Cameron Gates played the hero as time expired to send The King's University Eagles to a play-in game with a 100-98 win over the Olds College Broncos at the Ralph Klein Centre on Friday, erasing a double-digit deficit along the way.

Gates finished with eight points, six rebounds and five assists, while Cornelius Mingo Jr. earned player of the game honours for the Eagles (6-14) with 27 points and 10 rebounds, and Logan Den Oudsten added 16 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

Meanwhile, Gurech Gurech led all scorers with 33 points to go with six assists and four steals for the Broncos (3-18), while Fritz Rostek and Austin Nzige-Nyambok each had 17 points and seven rebounds, with Rostek having eight assists and Nzige-Nyambok adding six of his own.

After a relatively even start, the Broncos started to establish themselves in the latter stages of the opening quarter to open up a 26-16 lead through 10 minutes of play.

The Broncos would extend their lead out as far as 15 midway through the second, only for the Eagles to claw the deficit back to 52-44 heading into halftime.

The third quarter saw the Broncos build out another 14-point lead, but a 17-3 run in the final 4:35 saw the Eagles rise to the occasion and cut the lead to 73-72 heading to the fourth, where the two teams traded shot after shot. The Eagles' biggest lead was 93-88 with 2:39 left, but the Broncos fought back, with a Tyerique Williams three-pointer putting Olds College up 96-94 with 1:08 left.

Tied 98-98 with 14.2 seconds remaining, the Eagles called a timeout after Nzige-Nyambok fouled out, setting the stage for Gates to collect a rebound off a Den Oudsten miss.

From here, the Eagles will stay in Edmonton's Northwest, as they will face the NAIT Ooks in an ACAC North play-in game next Friday.