Just in case anybody had any doubts that Yukon basketball is on the uprise, the Porter Creek Rams provided the proof this past weekend, as they went undefeated at the inaugural Road to the Gold tournament.

Buoyed by some impressive individual performances, as well as boatloads of speed and confidence, the Rams opened the basketball season by hoisting the tournament championship, posting a convincing 105-82 win over the visiting Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears in Saturday's final, which was held at Porter Creek Secondary School.

The Crimson Bears, who lost by 30 points to the Rams in a round-robin matchup, managed to stick fairly close to the Rams throughout the first half, heading to the dressing room down by just seven. But the Rams' speed proved too much to handle for Juneau and Porter Creek pulled away for good in the third quarter.

'We came together really well,' said Ram Tim Beaver, who was named to the tournament all-star squad. 'We worked really hard. We're a fast team and a lot of teams can't keep up with us.'

Rams head coach Logan Wedge said fatigue was probably a factor in the outcome of the final.

'We got to play early today because we were the number one seed after the round-robin and because they were the lower seed, they had to play more,' he explained. 'They had two really hard games so I'm sure fatigue was a big factor.'

Both teams got into some foul trouble Porter Creek had to sit Beaver for the majority of the first half after he picked up three quick fouls and the Bears lost Eric Gross to fouls in the fourth quarter.

While Beaver came back dominant in the second half and made up for his time on the bench, the loss of Gross really hurt Juneau, said Wedge, pointing out Gross was the only one who could match-up size wise against Porter Creek's big guns.

'When he fouled out, they had nothing that could stop Zack (Carey) or Tim,' he stated. 'Tim is so much bigger and stronger now. It's so fun to watch.

'Zack stepped up and played well. He does a lot of the unsung stuff.'

Chad Curlew also had a huge tournament for the Rams, nabbing the MVP award. Beaver said Carey and teammate Sina Kazemi could have easily been named to the all-star team as well, but unfortunately there are only so many awards to go around.

Besides Beaver, four other players were named all-stars Gross (Juneau), Tony Nguyen (F.H. Collins), Kyle Foster (Haines) and Quincy Thomas (NWT).

'I'm pretty pleased,' summed up Wedge. 'We weren't sure what was going to happen coming into the tournament because we knew the American teams would be strong.

'I was a little nervous because of the lack of practice our team has had this year and we have so many new players.'

The Rams have about eight juniors who haven't really seen much game action yet since there are eight seniors. Wedge said while there's not a lot of room this year, he's going to try and work everyone in over the season.

Right now, plans are in the works for the annual tournament in Skagway in January as well as an event in Edmonton in mid-February. And over the weekend, the Rams also received an invitation from Juneau to attend an international tournament which will be hosted in the Alaska capital in about three weeks.

Two teams from California dropped out recently, so there are two spots open. Wedge said he'll be talking to the players and their parents over the next few days to figure out whether or not they can go.

Meanwhile, in the girl's final on Saturday evening, it was the Crimson Bears taking on the N.W.T.'s U-17 development team.

It was a much lower scoring affair than the boy's matchup, although in the end, it had a similar theme. The N.W.T. was within striking distance until the fourth quarter even going on an 8-0 run in the second but was outhustled down the stretch and ended up on the wrong end of a 62-45 score.

'We had some peaks and valleys, ups and downs,' said Juneau coach Kerry Lindley. 'But we hung in there and played to our potential in the second half.'

The difference in the end, said Lindley, may have ben the full-court press employed by the Crimson Bears. Even though the Alaskan squad was made up mostly of freshmen and sophomores, the coach said they have a real strong bench.

'We have some pretty good ball handlers.'

One of the most challenging aspects of the tournament for the Crimson Bears was playing under international rules, said Lindley.

'The girls were really worried about the shot clock at first because they didn't think 25 seconds was enough time. But I think we only had two time violations all weekend.

'Now they can all say they played internationally,' he joked.

Crimson Bears junior Kristen Pratt said the fact the key is larger in international rules was the most difficult adjustment for her.

'In my position, I got called for it a lot. But I think we did pretty good overall. It was our first week playing together.'

Pratt ended up with the MVP honours for Juneau while fellow Crimson Bear KayKay Sanders received an all-star nod.

Also making the girl's all-star squad were Allison Devitt (N.W.T.), May Nguyen (F.H. Collins), Noria Deacon (F.H. Collins) and Hailey Grayston (N.W.T.).

Overall, Lindley said he was impressed with both the hospitality of Yukoners and the quality of competition.

'I thought all the teams played hard. Actually, I was surprised they were as competitive as they were.

'Basketball really seems to be catching on here.'