The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack withstood a pushback in the third quarter for the second night in a row as they wound up a weekend Canada West men's basketball series with the Saskatchewan Huskies.

Unlike Friday (Nov 29), when they lost by 20 points (89-69), the Pac came away with a 92-85 victory at the Tournament Capital Centre on Saturday (Nov 30).
Thompson Rivers goes into the break at 7-3 while Saskatchewan will finish the pre-Christmas portion of the season at 6-2.

Thompson Rivers was led by Anton Bilous (5^th year, guard, Cerkassy, Ukraine) with 25 points. Joe Davis (5^th year, forward, Kamloops, BC) had 22 points.  Davis is now three points shy of hitting the 1000 career Canada West career scoring point mark.  Micheal Rouault (5^th year guard, Vernon, BC) had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Saskatchewan was led by JT Robinson (5^th year, guard, Vallejo, California) with 25 points. Alexander Dewar (2^nd year, guard, Saskatoon, SK) had 20 points. Noah Nickel (2^nd year, guard, Abbotsford, BC) contributed 17 points while Emmanuel Akintunde (4^th year, guard, Saskatoon, SK) had 11 points.
 
 SYNOPSIS
The WolfPack knew they would have to rely on a balanced attack to be successful. In the first quarter, four of the five starters got involved offensively early while  Robinson was red hot for the Huskies scoring seven points as they trailed 11-9 halfway through the first period. The WolfPack held a 30-12 advantage after the first quarter led by Rojhe Colbert's (3^rd year, forward, Phoenix, AZ) and  Rouault's seven points.  Robinson was the leading scorer for Saskatchewan.

The second quarter saw the WolfPack and Huskies exchange baskets with TRU  up by  9 (43-34). Bilous had 10 points for Thompson Rivers while Robinson had 13 points for Saskatchewan.

Similar to Friday night, Saskatchewan came out and took advantage of their shots and some loose balls to take over the lead. With 4:19 left in the period, the Huskies got back to back baskets from Nickel to take a 50-52 lead.  The score seesawed back and forth.  Davis taking the team on his shoulders scoring six points in a row.  The Huskies took a one point lead (63-62) to the fourth quarter when with less than 30 seconds left in the period, Akinlunde  got a loose ball and went unmolested to the hoop for the basket.

Bilous and second year guard Brendan Sullivan (Mill Bay, BC) took the lead roles for TRU in the fourth quarter.  Both scored some key baskets down the stretch as the Pack regained the lead and held on for the victory, Bilous had 12 points in the final period while Sullivan wound up with seven points in the contest-all in the fourth quarter. He was named "The Den Leader of the Pack" player of the game.
 
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:
https://youtu.be/55-hMmn2qFc



THEY SAID IT! (post game quotes):

TRU Head Coach Scott Clark:

https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1201023524380364801 
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1201023814357798912 


WolfPack guard Brendan Sullivan (2^nd year, Mill Bay, BC):

https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1201022882953879554 
 
Huskies head coach Barry Rawlyk (10 th season):

https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1201022382049153024
 
 
 
NEXT UP:
Both teams will break for exams and Christmas. They will return to Canada West play on Friday, January 3, 2020.  The WolfPack will entertain the Mount Royal Cougars at the Tournament Capital Center with a 7 PM PDT tip off.  The Huskies are back in British Columbia-this time in Langley to visit the Trinity Western University Spartans.

All four games  will be webcast on a pay-per-view basis on Canada West TV presented by Co-op by accessing: https://cw.yaretv.com/.
At Thompson Rivers, James Matthews will handle the play by play duties of both games this weekend. His analyst will be former WolfPack guard Vince Watson .CFJC TV's Dylana Milobar will be the in game host.

Results will be available on the WolfPack social media platforms and their website  www.goWolfPack.ca.