They say defending a title is one of the hardest things to do, no matter the sport.

The Bureaucrats, though, managed to prove that it can be done and they did it in fine fashion.

They are once again your Yk Basketball Association champions after beating the Avery Cooper Nuggets in the best-of-three final series in two straight by scores of 81-77 and 84-65 respectively; the latter score came this past Friday at Sir John Franklin Gymnasium.

Damien Healy, who plays with the champs, said Game 2 was a lot better than Game 1 for one big reason: Simon Markowski.

鈥淪imon played awesome,鈥� he said. 鈥淗e hit six three (pointers) and no one else did that for us. He was doing some hard-body karate in that game and he鈥檚 officially replaced Cory Taylor as the greatest player in the league.鈥�

Both teams ended up in the final after winning their respective semifinal best-of-threes 鈥� the Bureaucrats took down the Ideal Woodworking 76ers in two straight while the Nuggets needed all three Games to beat the Jazz. The semifinals featured some rather exciting finishes along the way and Healy had a front-row seat for two of those contests as an official.

They included something Healy said he鈥檇 never seen before in Yellowknife basketball: two buzzer-beaters to win a game on the same night.

鈥淕ame 1 of the Jazz and the Nuggets had Matt Craig hit one to win and then the game with the 76ers and the (WINMAR) Spartans, the juniors 鈥� the 76ers hit a buzzer-beater to win the series,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 ever remember that happening but it provided a bit of March Madness-type of basketball.鈥�

And because players like to keep track of what they鈥檝e won, he added, it was the second title in a row for Darren Campbell while some others have hit pay dirt again.

鈥淭his is the ninth title for Simon and Jeremy Bird told me it鈥檚 his 10th,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not sure how many I鈥檝e won but I鈥檇 have to go back to when I was a junior to figure that out.鈥�