The Yukon's junior male basketball teamed proved the expression 'good things come to those who wait' on Friday at the Arctic Winter Games in Yellowknife.

All week, Team Yukon has been looking to repeat, for the first time ever, as gold medal champions. With a 95-87 victory over Nunavut in double overtime, the team was able to make history by accomplishing this feat.

"We are very happy," said coach Jamie Shaw. "We set this goal at the start of the season and the boys just did not allow themselves to get side tracked."

The Team Yukon boys finished the round robin with an impressive 2-1 record, which placed them first in their pool. They opened up the tournament with an 81-53 victory over Alaska.

Although the team put on a dominating performance against Alaska, they weren't able to sustain the momentum heading into the next contest against the Northwest Territories. The N.W.T. dropped Team Yukon's record to 1-1, winning the game by a close score of 72-69.

Team Yukon rebounded from the loss for their last game of the round robin against Nunavut. The Yukon boys played very well throughout this game, beating Nunavut 86-73. The victory over Nunavut placed the club first overall, which resulted in a semi-final match against Alaska.

In the semi-final matchup, Alaska came out on fire against the Yukon boys and built up an early lead. Team Yukon had trouble sinking a few standard layup and foul shots, which contributed to the deficit. At the end of the first quarter, Alaska was ahead by a score of 21-16.

Team Yukon played more effectively in the second quarter, finishing the half with a four-point lead. From there, the team didn't relinquish its lead and really pulled away in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach for the team from Alaska. The final score was 76-62.

The gold medal game against Nunavut started in similar fashion to Team Yukon's contest against Alaska. At one point in the quarter, Team Yukon managed to tie the game up only for Nunavut to follow that up with a run that resulted in them outscoring the Yukon boys by nine points. The final score of first quarter was 28-19 in favour of Nunavut.

Great defensive pressure was the key for Team Yukon in turning the game around in the second quarter. The group managed to limit Nunavut to just eight points, while scoring 23 of their own to take the lead into the third.

Team Yukon struggled in the third quarter missing shots, which allowed Nunavut to retake the lead after outscoring the Yukon boys by 13 points.

In the fourth quarter, outstanding hustle and determination from the Yukon players helped get them back on track. The team managed to draw even with Nunavut at 71-71 and sent the contest into overtime.

The first overtime was back and forth. At one point, the Yukon boys were down six points when Shaw called a timeout. His words of advice paid off as the boys hit two three-pointers right away, which sent the game into another overtime quarter.

Both teams traded points for the first two minutes of the second overtime before Team Yukon took control of the game and went onto the 95-87 win.

Shaw said the way the team handled the pressure throughout the whole game was the reason they were able to get the victory.

"There were some big fluctuations there in the score, six points in an overtime period is a huge deficit to overcome," he said. "All along the boys maintained their positive attitude and their confidence and they didn't allow the scoreboard to affect how they played. They just kept playing the way they had been playing. It allowed them to handle everything Nunavut could throw at them and in the final overtime period really dictate how the game was to be played."

He said it felt great to repeat for the first time ever in the Yukon's history in the sport at the Games and was proud of being able to do it with this group of players.

"There are very few teams that I have coached that I would feel the same way as I feel about these guys," Shaw said. "They handled everything this season with class and they competed as hard as they possibly could on the court and off the court they were just outstanding kids to be around."

Shaw said the best part was just the experience of the entire Games and the support the boys received from other Yukon athletes.

Tony Nguyen was the captain on the Yukon's junior male basketball team. With the gold medal, Nguyen became the first player to captain two Yukon basketball teams to two consecutive gold medal victories

He said it felt great to win for the second year in a row at the Games.

"Repeating for the first time ever is pretty crazy and I enjoyed both times, but winning in double overtime was twice as good as the first time," he said. "Our coach picked a great team. We just moulded together and I think that was a big part or our success."

Nguyen, 17, said the second gold medal was more meaningful because of it was harder to win than the first.

"Playing 10 extra minutes after a forty minute game has its toll on the body, but it just made the finish so much better."

Nguyen ranks the second Games victory on the same level as Team Yukon's overtime victory over Newfoundland at last summer's nationals. He said both were his top two highlights playing the game.

The Yukon junior female basketball team also did very well at the Games, finishing in second place. The team played an outstanding semi-final match against the N.W.T., winning by a score of 60-56.

In the girls' final match, they went up against powerhouse Yamal, Russia, who ended up being just a little to much for them, winning by a score of 91-60.

Diedre Davidson, the team's coach, said she was proud of the way her team played during the competition.

"They played amazingly well and they were able to keep up the intensity and their good spirits throughout," she said. "I think what it really came down to is we all came together as a team. They started playing well with each other, they knew where to expect people to move and every game they played they got better."