Mohawk couldn't win the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association basketball gold Saturday night but at least they could claim a victory this season over the team that did.

While the Mountaineers had to settle for fourth place at CCAA championship, the Ontario Collegiate Athletic Association west division Humber Hawks took the national title with a hard-fought 68-62 victory over the Vancouver Island University Mariners from Nanaimo.

Humber's 6-foot-10 Serbian-born post Vule Grujic powered home a slam to break open a tie contest with two minutes to play. Grujic, who would be named the tournament MVP, then added a pair of foul shots and bring in a key defensive rebound. It would be enough to bring the gold back to Ontario since Mohawk won it in 2012.

Grujic finished with 16 points. Tyrone Dickson had eight points and 12 rebounds.

VIU's sensational guard Justin King pumped in 26 for the Mariners, the 2013 gold medalists.

Humber, which last won CCAA gold in 2001 when the Etobicoke school hosted the event, took a three point lead into the final 10 minutes before a large but mainly pro-Hawk crowd, at the Fennell Avenue campus. And it stayed tight. The scored was knotted at 60 with two minutes left. That's when Grujic got great.

"Coach called the plays for me and he told me I needed to play big and I came through. Two minutes left, it's all or nothing, we have to win the championship," Grujic said.

He added that the gold helped sooth the Humber hurt of losing the Ontario title to Mohawk.

"We've been working hard all year and to get upset at the OCAA's, we were bitter, we were hurt and we didn't want it to happen again."

Humber, which finished with a conference record of 17-1 and became the first collegiate squad to beat Mohawk on their $37-million David Braley Athletic Centre home court in the final 2015 regular season contest, won three straight games in the Mountaineer gym this weekend to claim the championship.

Humber head coach Shawn Collins admitted he has taken a liking to Mohawk's fancy digs.

"I'm starting to like it better and better. I didn't think I would like coming to Mohawk. Mohawk put on a great show, they were great hosts and it's nice to see the OCAA win a national championship," Collins said.

The Hawks beat Mohawk twice this season. But the Mountaineers did clip Humber 84-74 in the OCAA championship earlier this month at Durham College.

In the CCAA title bout Humber took a 17-15 lead after one quarter.

But the Mariners, led by Pacwest conference player of the year King from Las Vegas, battled back and led most of the second quarter. King had 14 at the half. A nice drive by the Hawks' Brayden Gohn knotted the affair at 34 at intermission.

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"We fought hard. We just came up short. That's the way it works sometimes. Humber played hard," King said, adding tournament organizers deserved praise for putting on an exceptional event.

CCAA Notes

Mohawk's Matt Fennell was named a first team tournament all-star while teammate Andrew Cicuttini was named to the second team.

In an odd quirk, tournament players of the game were presented with card table folding chairs.

