Scheduled Game: New Mexico

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GAME RESULTS 1 2 T New Mexico Lobos 41 41 82 « FINAL TWU Spartans 31 37 68

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Game Recap

Men's Basketball (Non-Conference game)
Friday, October 17, 2003
TWU Spartans (68) vs. the University of New Mexico Lobos (82)

Faithful vs. The Pit...

Langley, British Columbia - Over 1800 raucous Spartan Faithful crammed into the confines of the David E. Enarson Gymnasium on Friday night to witness the Spartan men's basketball team host their second NCAA Div I competition, the University of New Mexico Lobos. The painted, toga-ed and drum-toting Faithful should give the Lobos something to talk about back in their own well-known gym, nicknamed The Pit.

The Spartans struggled offensively early tonight, and despite a valiant effort in the second half, couldn't make up the difference, losing 82-68 to the Lobos.

There's nothing like a good breakaway dunk to get the crowd on its feet and forget your offensive woes, and Logan Kitteringham (4th yr, Post, Walnut Grove, BC) took full advantage of his opportunity in the ninth minute. Racing down the court after an agile defensive steal, the big man was like a speeding locomotive and made no mistake about flushing down the two points, much to the delight of the home crowd. His play closed the Spartans to within three (26-23) and forced a Lobos timeout.

Trinity Western shot only 35.5% from the field in the first 20 minutes, compared to New Mexico's 43.8%, and managed only 31 points to enter halftime down by ten. Despite their low field-goal percentage the Spartan men shot better than 50% from the 3-point line, with Brian Banman (2nd yr, Guard, Kelowna, BC) especially lighting it up, going 4-4 from downtown. One of those threes tied up the score at 28, but the Lobos had some sharpshooters of their own, particularly Jeff Hart, who made sure his team kept their lead going into the break.

Ironically the Spartans shot a worse field-goal percentage in the second half (32.4%), but scored more points to close the final gap to 14.

The second half began much the way the first did, with the home team not finding their first second-half points until three minutes had passed. As a result of some solid defense, the Spartan men went on a 16-10 run in the last eight minutes of the game, completing the half with a final free throw by Adam Friesen (3rd yr, Guard, Abbotsford, BC) (8-9 in the half).

"If the ball had dropped early, this would have been a different game," commented Coach Stan Peters. "With nothing falling early tonight, we started to question if we could play with this team and felt the pressure of a big home crowd. Basically, we lost our focus, got nervous and got away from what makes us tough. Although, in the second half we found more of our rhythm and stayed competitive."

Spartan men's basketball completes its three-game series against NCAA Div I teams on Monday, October 20 at 8:00pm against Creighton University, a Sweet Sixteen team last year that finished the regular season ranked #15 in the United States.

Game Notes: TWU's Logan Kitteringham had a double-double tonight, with 19 points and 13 boards, as well as 2 steals...Adam Friesen led all scorers with 24 points (20 in the second half)...Jeff Hart led the Lobos with 18 points (15 off 3-pointers)...tonight's crowd of 1850 broke last year's record of 1500, set during the playoffs...

-TW-

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