The York University Lions men's basketball clinched a playoff berth on Saturday night with a thrilling 81-79 win over the Toronto Varsity Blues at the Goldring Centre on the U of T campus in the regular season finale.  
 
The game was a do-or-die contest for both teams as the two Toronto rivals went into the game tied for the sixth and final playoff spot in the OUA East division, with the winner advancing to the playoffs and the loser playing their final game of the 2018-19 season.
 
The Lions were led by rookie DeAndrae Pierre who had a phenomenal game, going 11 for 14 from the field and netting a game-high 26 points.
 
The Blues got out to a good start and led after the first quarter by a score of 25-17. Chevon Brown scored the first two points for the Lions, which was followed by a layup from Pierre to give the Lions a 4-0 lead. The Blues' Daniel Johansson was able to contribute seven points throughout the first quarter while Prince Kamunga and Gianmarco Luciani were able to provide four points each for York.
 
In the second quarter of the game, both the Lions and the Blues were able to put 14 points on the board. For the Blues it was all Johansson who scored 10 of his team's 14 points and it was once again Pierre who threw down seven points for York. The Blues went into halftime with a 39-31 lead.
 
Despite being down eight points at the half, the Lions dug deep with their season on the line and came out of the locker room looking like a different team. They had cut the Blues lead to one-point by the end of the third quarter and were trailing 58-57. Pierre was able to match his points from the second frame and scored another seven points for York, which was followed by the Brown who was one point behind Pierre with six points.
 
The teams opened up the fourth quarter trading buckets and were tied at 65-65 with six minutes left in the game. After several clutch baskets from both teams, they were again knotted at 73-73 with just over two minutes left in both team's biggest game of the season. Two huge three pointers from Pierre and Luciani gave the Lions a 79-73 lead as the Blues called a timeout with their season on the line with just over one-minute left in the game.
 
The final minute of the game moved slowly as the Blues fouled the Lions to stop the clock and the team's traded timeouts. Luciani made the score 80-76, but the Blues Evan Shadkami cut the lead to one-point with a clutch three-pointer with five second left. Pierre put the Lions ahead by two with a free throw and the Blues missed a last second heave from half court as the Lions picked up a 81-79 win.
 
Brown was the Lions second-leading scorer with 16 points, followed by Luciani with 15 and Kamunga with 12 points and team-leading seven rebounds. Shadkami and Johansson led the Blues with 25 points apiece.
 
With the win the Lions have qualified for the OUA playoffs for the first time since the 2014-15 season and have experienced a big turnaround this season in head coach Nate Philippe's second year behind the Lions bench. They have quadrupled their win total from last season and will face the Ottawa Gee-Gees on the road in the first round of the 2018-19 playoffs. The Lions are fresh off a huge upset win over the Gee-Gees last weekend and will look to make it two in a row against Ottawa on Wednesday night.