It's Championship weekend in the ACAC for men's basketball as the NAIT Ooks visit Ambrose University in Calgary. The club has familiarity playing at Ambrose earlier this season. Head Coach Jordan Baker believes it could benefit his squad. 

"Familiarity always helps. When we played there earlier in November, we scored 96 points. Hopefully, we can replicate that type of performance this weekend against the best the ACAC has to offer," said Baker.

The Ooks knocked off Ambrose 96-81 back in November's win. Ooks guard Lodie Kenyi had a season-high 28 points off the bench in the victory.

Ooks will open things up this weekend against the SAIT Trojans on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. The two clubs met two weeks ago in the final weekend of regular season play. The second-place Trojans walked away with an 80-67 victory. Guard Charlie Conner generated a game-high 22 points for the Trojans. Yasser Abdullahi led the way with 19 points for the Ooks. SAIT guard Marcus Masters finished second in league scoring, producing nearly 25 points per game. Conversely, the Ooks are generally a club that relies on multiple players to score.

"The strength of our team is depth. We had seven players score 18 or more points in a game this season, and we take pride in being a well-balanced unit," said Baker.

The Ooks are coming off their highest-scoring output last weekend over The King's Eagles to secure a spot in this weekend's ACAC Championships. The club cruised to a 113-89 victory, and two Ooks had career-high nights. Benjamin Kemba and Yasser Abdullahi both produced at an elite rate. Kemba scored 28 points and added eight assists. He was also a disruption on the defensive side of the ball with three steals. Abdullahi registered 32 while converting on 12 of his 13 shot attempts. NAIT concluded their regular season with an impressive road win over St. Mary's Lightning, 80-79. The Ooks will look to carry this momentum into their most crucial weekend to date.

"We have been preparing for this weekend all season long. Our team is confident and ready to compete for an ACAC Championship," said Baker.

Ooks' next opponent will be determined based on their opening game results. Ooks face one of either Ambrose Lions or Keyano Huskies on Friday. For all schedule updates, visit acac.ab.ca. All games will be streamed on ACACTV or Telus Optik Channel 1998.