Zack Carey stood behind Porter Creek teammate Tim Steele-Beaver, patting him on the shoulder as they awaited the announcement of the MVP for the Yukon senior boy's basketball championship.

Carey, as well as several other Rams, were sure it was going to be Steele-Beaver. After all, the all-star team had already been named and Steele-Beaver's name was absent, despite the fact he is always a force when he's on the floor and has been one of the Rams' top players all season.

But it was Carey's name called out by Basketball Yukon President Tim Brady, much to the surprise of the modest athlete.

'I was actually telling Tim, Go on, get up there,'' Carey laughed. 'I was kind of in shock when they said my name. I thought I was hearing things.'

While Carey may have been surprised at the nod, head coach Logan Wedge wasn't.

'Zack is one of those guys that gets overshadowed by Tim,' said Wedge. 'But he's a dominant player too, he just has to believe it. He totally deserved that award. He scored a lot, rebounded, he can do a bit of everything.'

It's a sign of the talent on this year's addition of the Rams when two more of their players were named to the all-star team Chad Curlew and Sina Kazemi. The Vanier Crusaders also had a couple of athletes on the all-star squad Aaron McKenzie and Jared Hougen and F.H. Collins had Wesley Leung, but this year certainly belonged to Porter Creek.

The Rams lost just two games all season, one of which was against a tough Alaskan squad which went on to the state championships. They finished on top of a tournament in Skagway, sported a 2-1 record at a tournament in Tok, AK and took the Super Hoops title.

On Saturday evening, they took on the Crusaders in the final and while it was close throughout most of the game, they picked up a ten-point lead in the final few minutes to seal their championship victory.

'We wanted it more,' stated Carey. 'We knew they'd come out fired up, we knew that we were up against a tough team, but we just wanted it.'

Wedge paid kudos to Vanier coach Sean McCarron for giving the Rams a tough game.

'It's not a difference in coaching,' he said. 'If you've got better players, you win, and tonight we had better players. They couldn't match up against us.'

The starting five for Porter Creek� Carey, Steele-Beaver, Kazemi, Curlew and Sam Johnson have been playing together for years and are getting more and more comfortable playing with each other, he pointed out.

Kazemi sunk several three-point shots in the final quarter of the championship game, which Carey said made all the difference.

'When we were down, Sina was our go-to-guy. He shot us back into the game. He was real clutch.'

Wedge was also impressed with his veteran players, who he said displayed excellent leadership throughout the year. And he credited every player for their positive attitudes, whether they received lots of playing time or offered support from the bench.

'A lot of these guys might not get off the bench but they push our starting guys in practice to play better. They were really great about it all year, didn't whine. They're very mature.'

Despite the outcome, McCarron was pleased with Vanier's performance, pointing out Porter Creek had the Crusaders' number all year. Vanier played some games against the Rams without a full roster during the season, but even with a full roster Saturday, couldn't get the job done, he said.

'I'd rather lose and play well than win and play the opposite. We played with heart and skill. We didn't give up. I'm really proud of our guys.

'Now we know exactly what we need to work on for next year. You learn from experiences like this in games.

'When that clock is ticking down, are you going to give up and lie down, or show some pride? (Showing pride is) the top priority for me.'

Vanier will have a much different look next season, as four of their core players will graduate this year.

The Rams, on the other hand, will have all five of their starters back in the lineup for one more year, making it tough on Vanier and F.H. to stop Porter Creek from claiming another title.

Wedge hopes to take the Rams on even more trips next year, including one to a tournament in Edmonton. They were supposed to travel to Edmonton this year but the trip got cancelled.

'These guys ... we owe it to them to take them places,' said Wedge. 'There are a couple of guys on this team that I think can play college ball. So we want to help them out and give them as many opportunities as we can.'

Meanwhile, in the senior girls' final Saturday night, it was Porter Creek coming out on top over Vanier 66-61.

Rams coach Mark Hureau said his team gave a pretty good effort, pointing out Porter Creek was a small team up against some much taller players on Vanier.

'We really had to keep the pressure up. For us, it was all up tempo, up tempo the whole game.

'The difference was our MVP (Jasmine Mooney). She dominated. They just had no one that could handle her today. She was our MVP all year.'

Most of Hureau's crew will be back next season he only had three Grade 12s on the team this year. But, he said, F.H. has a lot of good talent coming up and will also have a very strong team next season.

'It should be very interesting, but I think next year will be a lot of fun,' said Hureau.

The senior girls' all-star nods went to:

Jana Tait, Vanier

Roslyn Tait, Vanier

Angela Ell, Porter Creek

May Nguyen, F.H.

Kathy Sutherland, F.H.