No last minute heroics this time for the UBC Okanagan men’s basketball team as the Cougars hang on for a home court victory over the Heat (79-63). These teams play the final time against each other Saturday at 6 p.m. (PST).
Friday, January 15th, 2016
Kenyon Court, Calgary, AB
FINAL 1 2 3 4 T UBC Okanagan (5-6) 19 9 13 22 63 Mount Royal (4-7) 32 13 21 13 79
CALGARY, AB- The UBC Okanagan men’s basketball team start their two game series against the Mount Royal Cougars with a 79-63 loss Friday night on Kenyon Court in Calgary, AB.
With the loss the Heat’s record drops to (5-6) and tightens up the standings in the Explorer division of Canada West as Mount Royal’s record improves to (4-6). Both UBCO and MacEwan are tied for last playoff spot in the division and Mount Royal is just one game back. TRU has a two-game lead for first over UFV with a (9-2) record.
Friday’s game was over after the First quarter for UBC Okanagan as the Cougars scored a season-high 32 points in the first quarter and took advantage of the poor shooting UBCO squad. The Cougars couldn’t miss in the early going, galloping out to a 7-2 run to start the ball game. Brett Layton and James Lefebvre powered the Cougars offence on the inside and when the Heat keyed onto them.
Mount Royal led 15-6 at the halfway point of the quarter but didn’t stop there. Derek Wolf then got into the act for the Cougars, driving the lane and getting to line. The exclamation point of the first quarter came when Ray Goff had a fast break and put down an emphatic dunk to give Mount Royal a 23-11 lead.
UBC Okanagan tried to slowly climb back in the second set but each time they scored, Mount Royal would answer. Mount Royal took a 45-28 lead into halftime.
As the second half opened, Mount Royal nearly doubled up the Heat leading at one point 59-30. Brett Layton owned the boards in the third quarter as the Cougars outscored the Heat 21-13. Heading into the fourth and final quarter the Cougars were firmly supplanted in the driver’s seat, leading 66-41.
The Heat tried furiously to get back into the game via the three-ball. This provided Mount Royal an opportunity to slow the game down off missed shots and grind the final few minutes of the game out. Mount Royal cruised through the final quarter, taking the game 79-63.
The Heat struggled to effectively shoot the ball from the field and went (22-63) 24.9 percent compared to the Cougars (30-67) 44.8 percent. From the three the Heat were also unable to score and only shot (3-17) 17.6 percent compared to the Cougars (6-19) 31.6 percent. However, the Kelowna squad took advantage of the charity stripe in tonight’s match up and went (16-19) 84.2 percent compared to Mount Royals (13-21) 61.9 percent.
The Heat were led by third year, Cameron Friesen who had 14 points. Coming off of the bench Friesen went (6-9) from the field giving him a 66.6 percent and (2-4) from beyond the arch. Friesen was followed by Cam Servatius with 12 points and second year Dean Johnston with 10 points. The Heat had ten of its twelve players contribute to the scoresheet and of their 63 points, 35 were from their bench.
Aldrich Berrios and Randall Mosca combined for 52 points when these two teams last met (Nov. 21/15) in Kelowna, the Cougars held the two guards to just five points in Calgary.
The Cougars had four of its player reach double digits, Derek Wolf, James Lefebvre, and Glen Yang led the team with 13 points each and Ray Goff followed with 11 points.
The Heat were short of winning boards in tonight’s matchup. Mount Royals size allowed them to out-rebound UBC Okanagan (37-29).
Mount Royal and UBC Okanagan will renew their rivalry again tomorrow night at 6 p.m. (PST) on Kenyon Court.
~ Tia Sadler // Heat Communications // With notes from Justin McCaffrey, Mount Royal Cougars Sports Information