---

ETOBICOKE – The Dawson Blues were in control from the opening tip through to the final buzzer.

In the first Bronze Medal Quarter-final at the 2022 CCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship, the Blues kept their season alive with a 00-00 win over the MSVU Mystics. 

With the win, Dawson will advance to the Bronze Medal Semi Final on Sunday afternoon, where they will take on the loser of Saturday’s semi-final contest between the Humber Hawks and SAIT Trojans.

---

Jeremy Calixte-Bea was named Player of the Game for the Blues after recording 18 points and pulling down 17 rebounds. Renoldo Robinson recorded a double-double of his own, finishing with 12 points and 10 assists to go along with eight rebounds.

Trenton Dias-Maxwell led all scorers with 21 points on the afternoon.

MSVU was led by forward Dawson Berze-Butts, who finished with a team-high 17 points. Fellow forward Joel McCrossin recorded his second double-double on the National stage, finishing with 12 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.

The loss brings an end to the magical postseason run for the Mystics who were back on the Nationals stage for the first time since 2011.

Given how their quarter-final game ended on Friday afternoon against the St. Clair Saints, it remained a question as to how Dawson would respond on Saturday with their season on the line. As for the Mystics, after pushing the VIU Mariners for a full 40 minutes, one also had to wonder if they would have enough gas left in the tank to keep their own season afloat for another day.

Right out of the gate, Dawson seized control on the offensive end of the floor. Robinson got a layup to go in the first minute, and the Blues were off and running. While it was too early to tell at the time, the Blues would never trail in the game. 

Whenever the Mystics would make a run to try and cut into Dawson’s lead, the Blues had an answer on offense. MSVU cut Dawson’s lead down to three or four points on multiple occasions in the second quarter, but they were never able to overtake the Blues on the scoreboard.

---

---

Then, in the fourth quarter, the Mystics started to run on fumes. Their gas tank was nearly empty, and the Blues capitalized on that to put the game out of reach. Dawson outscored the Mystics by a 31-18 margin over the final 10 minutes to seal the deal on their 92-67 win.

For the Mystics, the clock struck midnight on their Cinderella run. Now, with a healthy crop of young players on their roster, the focus shifts to the 2022-23 season and building for the future.

For Dawson, they now turn their attention to Sunday afternoon’s Bronze Medal Semi-final contest against either Humber College or SAIT. A win there would send them to the Bronze Medal Game later on Sunday night.

• T. Bennett