The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men's basketball team kicked off the 2020 portion of their Canada West men's basketball regular season on a big note.

They hit the 100 point plateau for the first time this season. They downed the visiting Mount Royal University Cougars 102-73. The game was played Friday (Jan 3) at the Tournament Capital Centre.

The game featured TRU fifth year forward Joe Davis of Kamloops, BC hitting the 1000 career point mark and marked the return of fellow fifth year forward Kyrin Cybenko (Saskatoon, SK).    Davis had 15 points for the Pack while Cybenko, who had missed almost the entire first half of the season after injuring his shoulder in the season opener against Trinity Western, wound up with 11.

TRU was led by Micheal Rouault (5^th year, guard, Vernon, BC) with 25 points.  Matthew Guinto (4^th year, guard, Calgary, AB) led the Cougar attack with 19 points.  Nate Petrone (1^st year guard, Calgary, AB) added 13.

The WolfPack's record goes to 8-3 on the season while Mount Royal falls to 3-6.

The contest was part of B100 Radio night, where the radio station gave away money for the best "WolfPack Howl."
 
 SYNOPSIS
The WolfPack jumped out to a 5-0 lead early but the Cougars came back with six straight points to take the lead 6-5.  TRU led by two after the first quarter 22-20 thanks to eight points from Rouault.  Davis had only two points in that first quarter.

Guinto led the way for the Cougars in the first quarter with 12 points, who scored four of their points in the first period off turnovers and had 10 fast break points.

Davis hit the 1000^th career mark 54 second into the second quarter on a left handed hook shot.  After the teams tied at 24, the Pack went on a 12-3 run to lead 36-27.  But the plucky Cougars battled back and had cut TRU's lead to 4 by the half (48-44).   Rouault and Anton Bilous (5^th year, guard, Cerkassy, Ukraine) had 10 points each for TRU in the first half.  Guinto had 17 while  Petrone had 10.

Thompson Rivers extended their lead to 21 points (80-59) by the end of the third quarter thanks to Rouaults 10 points alone in that period. Bilous added five (he had 15 on the night) while Davis had 4 .  TRU limited Guinto to only two points that period while Petrone was held off the scoresheet.

As the game got out of hand, the WolfPack went to their bench and rookies Simon Crossfield (guard, Vancouver, BC),  Tyler Schilling (guard, Barriere, BC), Asher Mayan (guard, Langley, BC) and Elan Kimpton-Cuellar (forward, Roberts Creek, BC) all saw the floor.  Mayan played just over five minutes scoring a point and a rebound, Schilling had two points in five minutes of court time, Crossfield played almost nine minutes with no point and two rebounds, while Kimplton-Cuellar had two defensive rebounds and a point in almost six minutes.
 
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:


https://youtu.be/9tyQi5za3hs




THEY SAID IT! (post game quotes):

TRU Head Coach Scott Clark (10^th season):
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1213300017923936256  
 
TRU forward Joe Davis (5^th year, Kamloops, BC):
 https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1213299377357197312 

 
Mount Royal head coach Mark Dobell (11^th season):
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1213297596749369344
 
UP NEXT:

 The teams will continue their weekend series with another game Saturday (Jan 4) at the Tournament Capital Centre.  Tip off will be 7 PM PDT. The game will be webcast on a pay-per-view basis on Canada West TV presented by Co-op by accessing: https://cw.yaretv.com/.  

James Matthews will be handling the play by play with former WolfPack player Vince Watson providing commentary and CFJC TV's Dylana Milobar joining them as the in-game host.

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