The hung for three quarters with the from Toronto, but the Ontario squad took over in the fourth to win 82-67 and capture the championship on Saturday night.
The Gators led 44-43 at the half and 63-61 after three quarters, but St. Michael鈥檚 went on an 11-0 run in the fourth quarter to cruise to the win.
It鈥檚 the first-ever appearance for the Blue Raiders at the event and the second straight year that Walnut Grove has played in the event鈥檚 final. .
Blue Raiders head coach Jeff Zownir said similar to his team鈥檚 other two games at the event, it was a battle.
鈥淏oth teams played really hard and I think there was a little fatigue at the end because shooting really dried up for both teams,鈥� he said.
Zownir said his team finally managed to slow down Gators stars James Woods and Jarrett Jacobs by the fourth quarter.
鈥淲e tried to wear down their guys [Woods and Jacobs] and in the second half we got a little smarter and made everything more difficult for them,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ith Jacobs, our scouting report said he鈥檚 left-handed but early in the game we did five straight drives to his left so I felt like we were beating ourselves a bit with our defending.鈥�
He added that he was impressed with the level of play of basketball in B.C., and he鈥檇 gladly come back next year to defend the Snowball title.
鈥淚n Ontario we have a lot of teams that are athletic but the skill for the game out here is really high,鈥� he said. 鈥淓very team seems to have at least one great shooter. But, anytime they want us to come back we鈥檇 love to be back. The atmosphere for the games is just fantastic and the organizers treated us really well.鈥�
The Blue Raiders defeated the host Abbotsford Panthers 81-65 on Thursday, and then beat Burnaby South 79-71 on Friday.
Saturday鈥檚 third place game saw Brentwood College defeat Burnaby South 70-49. The Kelowna Owls edged the W.J. Mouat Hawks 91-90 in the fifth place game.
The Hawks opened the tournament with an 82-62 win over North Delta on Thursday, but then fell 76-68 to South Burnaby later that day.
Mouat bounced back with a 82-74 win over Abbotsford Senior on Friday before dropping the fifth place game on Saturday.
The host Panthers kicked off the tournament on Wednesday with a 94-83 win over the Robert Bateman Timberwolves. Abby closed off the tournament with a 94-86 loss to the MEI Eagles on Saturday.
The Yale Lions opened the tournament with losses to Kelowna (84-47) on Thursday and St. George鈥檚 (100-55) on Friday, but then beat Robert Bateman 81-61 on Saturday.
The Eagles took down St. George鈥檚 82-73 on Thursday, but then lost to Walnut Grove (106-80) later that day and then fell 106-96 to Kelowna.
Inaki Alvarez of the Blue Raiders was named the tournament鈥檚 most valuable player.
The following players were named all-stars: Ben Stonkus (St. Michael鈥檚), Kyle Duke-Simpson (St. Michael鈥檚), James Woods (Walnut Grove), Jarrett Jacobs (Walnut Grove), Nathan Pasloske (Brentwood), Somto Dimonachie (Brentwood), Jusuf Sehic (Burnaby South), Matt Williamson (Kelowna) and Harvir Garcha (Mouat).
Mouat鈥檚 Sukhi Kang earned the Best of Abbotsford scholarship from the for his efforts.
For complete results from the event, visit snowballbasketball.com.
