Evan Smith
Andrew Snucins
79
Mount Royal Cougars (M) MRU 0
81
Winner Thompson Rivers WolfPack (M) TRU 0
Mount Royal Cougars (M) MRU
0
79
Final
81
Thompson Rivers WolfPack (M) TRU
0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 OT 1 F
Mount Royal Cougars (M) MRU 21 25 16 9 8 79
Thompson Rivers WolfPack (M) TRU 20 17 19 15 10 81

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | TRU WolfPack

Smith’s clutch three sends ‘Pack to OT victory

QUICK FIRE
  • Through 44 minutes and 56 seconds of regular game and overtime action Evan Smith had yet to make a shot for the Thompson Rivers WolfPack men's basketball team. With four seconds left in overtime, the fourth-year guard knocked down the most clutch three-pointer possible to send TRU to an 81-79 overtime victory over the Mount Royal Cougars inside the TCC.
 
DIFFERENCE MAKERS
  • Cyrus Harrison went 7-16 from the floor to tally a team-high 18 points for the 'Pack. Asher Mayan continued to shine in his return from injury with 15 points, Daniel Bost added a further 11 points while Reuben Wright racked up nine rebounds.
  • Daniel Mulder had a game-high 20 for MRU after an extremely efficient 8-12 performance from the floor. Holt Tomie added 16 and Keivonte Watts 14 for the Cougars.
     
HOW IT HAPPENED
  • TRU came back from behind in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime. A Mount Royal three-pointer with just over seven minutes left to play gave the visitors a 67-59 edge before TRU responded. An 11-2 WolfPack run that featured four points from Harrison saw TRU take a 70-69 lead after a pair of free throws from Reuben Wright. A Mount Royal bucket followed by a TRU free throw saw the game go to overtime, the third time this season that TRU has needed an overtime period to decide a game.
  • With 19 seconds left to play in overtime TRU once again found themselves trailing, this time by three. After Daniel Bost drove to the bucket for a clutch layup, MRU missed a pair of free throws to leave the score at 79-78 in favour of the visitors and set the stage for Smith's heroics.
  • Bost drove the ball up the court and sent it to Denys Bachurin who swung it into the corner for Smith where he stepped back and launched up a game-winning three pointer with four seconds left on the clock to secure the win for TRU.
     
NOTABLE
  • The game was the third time this season that TRU has gone to overtime.
  • With the win, TRU keeps their CW postseason hopes alive as they now hold a record of 5-12 and are three games out of the playoffs with three games left to play.
  • The 'Pack will honour Daniel Bost and Tyler Schilling tomorrow night as the graduating guards play the final home games of their WolfPack careers.

QUOTABLE - Fourth-year Guard Evan Smith
  • "We drew up the play, I got to the corner and was wide open and Denys could have shot it but he gave me the ball and I just saw an opportunity and took it. I knew if I was going to take the shot that I had to hit it and that's how it went."
  • "It went in and I was pretty excited about it, I knew we had four seconds left so I didn't want to get too wrapped up in it but it felt pretty good."
  • "They just keep telling me to shoot the ball when I have the opportunity to, that's my job and you have to have that confidence but it definitely helps when your teammates and coaches believe in you."
                    Head coach Chad Jacobson
  • "Another close game, we've been in so many of them that I think guys are starting to learn how to close some of these games out. I thought that our compete level was a lot better in the second half than it was in the first, you can't come out and not compete and not play hard and expect to be successful in this league so the effort was better in the second half for sure."
  • "Everybody has all the confidence in the world in Ev, and he believes in himself. He's a guy that it's in the gym, constantly working on his game and getting his shots up so the confidence comes from the work that he puts in."
  • "The win is big for the morale of the guys. This group has been fighting and competing every week and it becomes really difficult when you come out on the wrong end of these tight games so just to be able to close it out in the fashion that we did was a big boost for the team morale."
 
UP NEXT
TRU will welcome the Cougars to the TCC once again tomorrow night – Saturday, February 10 – at 7:30 p.m.
 
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