The fifth annual Kilrich Building Centres Lights Out Invitational Basketball Tournament wrapped up with two barnburner championship games Saturday evening at F.H. Collins.

The women’s final between the Top Guns and the Terminators tipped off the championship finals.

In the first quarter, it was an early defensive battle with no offensive rhythm on either side of the ball. The Terminators were able to find their offence first, as they began to knock down their shots from inside the arc.

They also locked down on defence as the Top Guns were not getting many looks at the basket. The shots they did manage to get were forced, or from the outside, with nothing coming easily at the rim. The Terminators took a 15-3 lead going into the second.

The Terminators’ offence continued to roll in the second. They moved the ball quickly, using the majority of the 24-second shot clock to break the zone defence of the Top Guns to get uncontested looks.

Near the end of the quarter, the Top Guns saw the ball drop through the cylinder and after that, they picked up the defensive intensity. Still, they trailed 33-9 going into halftime.

In the third, the Top Guns slowed the game down and got to the free throw line. Led by the strong play of Sky Hodgson, who hit an insane half-court shot to beat the buzzer at the end of the third, which sent the crowd into a frenzy, the Top Guns went into the final frame down 10.

In the fourth, the Top Guns managed to cut the deficit to single digits early, but the Terminators got back into their offensive rhythm and rebuilt an insurmountable lead, winning the game and championship 62-42.

The game MVP went to Cailin Crosby, who was visiting Whitehorse from Toronto to visit her cousin who also played on the team. Having played varsity ball at Dalhousie, and semi-pro basketball in Germany, Crosby was impressed with the quality of hoops in Whitehorse.

“It was awesome,” said Crosby. “It was such a fun tournament, so well organized. It was really good quality ball, and I feel really lucky to be here.”

In the men’s final the Tropics took on the Billy Goats.

To begin the first the Tropics got off to a quick start, as their three-point bombs found nothing but net. The Billy Goats were also getting buckets, but theirs were from in close. The three-pointer was the difference in the first as the Tropics took a 27-21 lead into the next quarter.

In the second, the game’s flow was disrupted by the ref’s whistle constantly blowing, sending both teams to the foul line. The Billy Goats managed to take a one-point lead into the halftime.

In the first five minutes of the third, the two teams could not pull away from each other and the lead kept changing. In the final five minutes of the third, the Billy Goats began to take control of the game. The Billy Goats began to hit their threes and were still able to get to the basket, putting a lot of pressure on the Tropics’ defence. The Billy Goats took a 65-49 lead into the deciding frame.

The tournament legs began to show on the Tropics in the fourth quarter. They still played intense defence but on offence, they just could not get it going again. The threes that fell effortlessly through the hoop in the first half began to clank off the front of the rim, a sign that their legs were tired.

The Billy Goats began to run away with the game. They began to hit threes, which opened up the driving lanes for easy baskets at the rim. The exclamation mark was a soft fast-break dunk by Jeremy McCulloch. The Billy Goats won the game and the championship 86-64.

The game MVP for the Billy Goats was point guard Chad Curlew, who played lockdown defence and found his teammates for open looks.