The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack had a strong second half but not strong enough as they fell to the visiting University of the Fraser Valley Cascades 100-91 in Canada West men's basketball play on Friday (Jan 31).
The victory was the Cascades eighth straight. TRU has lost their last three. Both teams have identical 11-6 records. It was the first time this season that the 'Pack have given up 100 points.
The Cascades led 59-42 at the half but saw the WolfPack rally from a 20 point deficit to close the margin. UFV had four players in double figures led by Parm Bains (5
th year, guard, Surrey, BC) with 26. He scored 19 alone in the first quarter. Vick Toor (3
rd year, guard, Kent, WA) had 21 points. Sukhjot Bains (5
th year, guard, Delta, BC) added 19 while Sukraj Bains (1
st year, guard, San Jose, CA) added 13.
The WolfPack got 25 points from
Anton Bilous (5
th year, guard, Cerkassy, Ukraine) with 25 points.
Joe Davis (5
th year, forward, Kamloops, BC) had 21 points while Tyus DeVries (3
rd year guard, Chilliwack, BC) added 20 and Micheal Rouault (5
th year, guard, Vernon, BC) had 19.
DeVries was named "The Den Leader of the Pack" Player of the game.
This was the start of "Alumni Weekend" as well as "Donor Recognition" night for the WolfPack. The Kamloops Rube Band was on hand to provide entertainment at the breaks, half time and between the men's and women's contests.
SYNOPSIS
The Cascades quickly took a 6-0 lead to start the game on back to back threes from Sukhjot Bains and Toor and led 11-2 three minutes into the opening period. TRU got back to back threes themselves from
Joe Davis and Tyus Devries to cut the deficit to 16-11 with five minutes remaining in the first. UFV had an 14 point lead at one point in the opening period and led 33-23 thanks to 16 points out of Parm Bains. The Cascades outrebounded the Pack 7-5 in the first period (six of those on the defensive glass). Bilous and Davis each had eight points for Thompson Rivers.
The high octane UFV offense enlarged their lead to 18 in the second quarter. The WolfPack closed the gap but the Cascades held a 59-42 advantage going into recess. Jaskam Bajwa had 10 points for Fraser Valley in that second period. Bilous had four for the Pack. UFV scored 26 of their 59 points in the first half in the paint as their bench outgunned Thompson Rivers 18-7.
In the third quarter, UFV had a 22 point lead during the period, Thompson Rivers had cut it to 3 (74-41) with less than 90 seconds remaining. With 1:47 left, Bajwa of the Cascades went down hard after colliding with TRU's
Brendan Sullivan and was helped to the bench. He never returned. A late bucket by Rouault resulted in a three point play and the Pack cut the deficit to one (77-76) outgunning UFV 24-18 in that period. Rouault paced TRU with 10 points in that period, De Vries had 9 points while Bilous added eight. Toor with eight for UFV. Sukhojt Bains added 6 for them.
The shootout continued in the final 10 minutes as the teams exchanged baskets-UFV extending their lead to four (89-85). The Pack got a three pointer from Bilous with just over four minutes left to take their first lead of the contest 90-89. That lead was short lived as UFV came down court to make it 91-90. Fraser Valley was able to capitalize on their shots down the stretch while TRU fell short on theirs, Cascades up by six as Sukhjot Bains drove to the hoops with 45.8 seconds left (97-91).
TRU scored 16 points off turnovers compared to six for UFV. TRU's biggest scoring run was nine (42-55) while the Cascades was seven (15-29). The UFV bench outscored Thompson Rivers 25-20.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:
https://youtu.be/fehd-nC-J2k
THEY SAID IT! (post game quotes):
TRU Head Coach Scott Clark (10th season):
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1223489618705698816
TRU guard Tyus DeVries (3rd year, guard, Chilliwack, BC):
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1223489543719899136
Cascades head coach Adam Friesen (8 th season):
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1223489588183744512
UP NEXT:
The teams will continue their weekend series with another game Saturday (February 1st) 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/.
Alumni weekend will continue and before the game, the WolfPack will pay tribute to their four fifth year players:
Joe Davis (Kamloops, BC), Micheal Rouault (Vernon, BC),
Kyrin Cybenko (Saskatoon, SK) and
Anton Bilous (Cerkassy, Ukraine).
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.
