Adam Zilber came through in the clutch, leading Zone 6 Vancouver Central Coast 2 to the gold medal in the boys’ three-on-three basketball at the 2022 Prince George BC Summer Games.

Zilber hit a two-pointer with 30 seconds to go in regulation to tie the game and repeated the feat in overtime to lift his team to a 15-13 win over Zone 2 Thompson Okanagan 2 at Shas Ti Kelly Road Secondary. 

“That’s probably the biggest moment of my life,” he said after the medal ceremony. “I was shaking afterwards I was so excited.”

In the three-on-three version of the game, regular field goals are worth one point and shots beyond the arc are worth two. In overtime, there is no clock, the first team to score two points wins. 

Zone 2 started with the ball, but Zone 6 was able to get a tie up to get it back.

“We didn’t want go for one, because we knew they were a decent two-point shooting team,” Zilber said of the overtime strategy. “We didn’t want to take the chance of going for the layup, missing and getting a two against us and losing.”

The final was a back-and-forth with Zone 6 taking the early lead, but Zone 2 coming back to take the lead with 2:01 to go. With time ticking down, Zilber stepped up to force overtime.

“We tried running a play and it broke down, I had the ball and my man gave me an inch of space and I shot it,” he said. “All of my teammates were like, ‘noooo!’ but it went in and we all celebrated.”

Gold medal notwithstanding, Zilber loved his Games experience, including socializing with other athletes and watching the hypnotist show.

“It’s a really great experience and if you have the chance to come to the BC Summer Games, you should 100 per cent take it,” he said.